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Can we please stop repeating the lie that it's a "convention" for defecting MPs to trigger a by-election?
Since WW2, 69 MPs have switched from 1 party to another (not including party mergers, withdrawals of the whip, & sitting as an Independent).
Only 4 triggered by-elections.
Since WW2, 69 MPs have switched from 1 party to another (not including party mergers, withdrawals of the whip, & sitting as an Independent).
Only 4 triggered by-elections.
(Dick Taverne in 1972, Bruce Douglas-Mann in 1982, and both Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless in 2014.)
Even then, these things don't always turn out as planned. In 2008, @DavidDavisMP triggered the Haltemprice & Howden by-election, wanting to seek a fresh mandate from his constituents, in support of civil liberties, against the Lab government. 1/3
It was the first time since the Duchess of Atholl in 1938 that an MP had triggered a by-election on an issue of principle OTHER than a change of party allegiance, wanting to seek a fresh mandate from their constituents. 2/3
But it descended into farce when neither the Labour Party the by-election was aimed at, nor the Lib Dems (who agreed with him on civil liberties), chose to contest the seat. He'd resigned his frontbench role, and his seat, for nothing, only opposed by various Inds + loonies. 3/3
