Nelson and Colne by-election, 1968

The Nelson and Colne by-election of 27 June 1968 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Sydney Silverman.

The seat was safe, having been won by Labour at the United Kingdom general election, 1966 by over 4,500 votes

Candidates

• Betty Boothroyd, at the time a Hammersmith councillor, was chosen for Labour. She would eventually go on to become the first female Speaker of the House of Commons
• David Waddington was the Conservative candidate, having been called to the Bar in 1951.
• The local Liberal association nominated David Chadwick. In March, when it was first known that there would be a by-election, the Liberal party approached Sir Learie Constantine to stand as Liberal candidate. Constantine was a former West Indies cricketer who had played professionally in Lancashire and lived in London. He had spoken out against the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 and Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe thought that Constantine would be an ideal candidate to take on racism in society. Constantine however declined.
• Brian Tattersall was the candidate with the label "English Nationalist"

Result of the previous general election

General Election 1966: Nelson and Colne

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sydney Silverman	18,406	49.28
	Conservative	P Davies	13,829	37.02
	Independent	P Downey	5,117	13.70
Majority			4,577	12.25	-

Result of the by-election

Nelson and Colne by-election, 27 June 1968

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Waddington	16,466	48.89	+11.87
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	12,944	38.43	-10.85
	Liberal	David Chadwick	3,016	13.70	-4.75
	English Nationalist	Brian Tattersall	1,255	3.73	N/A
Majority			3,522
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing