2003 Brent East by-election

2003 Brent East by-election

18 September 2003
Brent East parliamentary seat
Turnout	36.2%
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Sarah Teather Robert Evans Uma Fernandes Party Liberal Democrats Labour Conservative Popular vote 8,158 7,040 3,368 Percentage 39.1% 33.8% 16.2% Swing 28.5% 29.4% 2.0%
MP before election Paul Daisley Labour Subsequent MP Sarah Teather Liberal Democrats

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Brent East on 18 September 2003, following the death of Labour Party MP Paul Daisley on 18 June that year. It was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Teather.

The Liberal Democrats held the seat in the 2005 general election.

Result

The turnout was 36.23%. Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Teather won with 39.12% of the vote, which was a swing of 29% from Labour. This was the largest swing from Labour to a Liberal or Liberal Democrat candidate since the Bermondsey by-election in 1983. Commentators linked the result to anger from traditional voters over the Iraq War, as well as to the private sector's involvement in public services.

2003 Brent East by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Teather	8,158	39.12	+28.5
	Labour	Robert Evans	7,040	33.76	–29.4
	Conservative	Uma Fernandes	3,368	16.15	–2.0
	Green	Noel Lynch	638	3.06	–1.6
	Socialist Alliance	Brian Butterworth	361	1.73	New
	Public Services Not War	Fawzi Ibrahim	219	1.05	N/A
	Independent	Winston McKenzie	197	0.94	New
	Independent	Kelly McBride	189	0.91	New
	Independent	Harold Immanuel	188	0.9	New
	UKIP	(Paul) Brian Hall	140	0.67	0.1
	Socialist Labour	Iris Cremer	111	0.53	–0.8
	Independent	Neil Walsh	101	0.48	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan Hope	59	0.28	New
	No description	Aaron Barschak	37	0.18	New
	No description	Jitendra Bardwaj	35	0.17	New
	www.xat.org	Rainbow George Weiss	11	0.05	New
Majority			1,118	5.36	N/A
Turnout			20,752	36.2	–15.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	+29.0

There were 109 spoilt ballots.

Previous result

Labour held the seat with 63.2% of the vote at the 2001 general election. The Liberal Democrats came third in the seat at that time, with only 10.6% of the vote.

General election 2001: Brent East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Daisley	18,325	63.2	–4.1
	Conservative	David Gauke	5,278	18.2	–4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Norsheen Bhatti	3,065	10.6	+2.8
	Green	Simone Aspis	1,361	4.7	New
	ProLife Alliance	Sarah Macken	392	1.4	+0.7
	Socialist Labour	Iris Cremer	383	1.3	New
	UKIP	Ashwin Tanna	188	0.6	New
Majority			13,047	45.0	0
Turnout			28,992	51.9	–14.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Aftermath

Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy called the result "a big boost for British politics". He said, "We have shown that there is no such thing as a no-go area for the Liberal Democrats. In Britain's most diverse community, we have shown that we can speak for every section of society and the Liberal Democrat message is one they want to hear and support."

In The Independent, psephologist John Curtice stated that "the defeat is not simply a little local difficulty. The finger of blame lies with the [Labour] party nationally. And there are two obvious candidates – Iraq and the domestic agenda." He went on to say that, due to Brent East's substantial Muslim and ethnic minority population, "the war is likely to have been especially unpopular. And there are plenty of Labour MPs whose electoral fortunes depend in part on the votes of Britain's ethnic minority communities."

Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney admitted that the invasion of Iraq had played a major role in the party's defeat. "It is the first time since 1988 that we have lost an election," he said. "It's been unprecedented in modern times, so I am very disappointed, particularly as we had an excellent candidate in Robert Evans and an excellent campaign. The backdrop of the controversy over Iraq in its many forms has caused difficulty in the by-election and generally in getting our message across about the big investment programme we have got in public services, the economy and tackling anti-social behaviour and crime."

The Conservative candidate, Uma Fernandes, was a local councillor. Her daughter Suella Fernandes, a young lawyer who was also on the list of parliamentary candidates, had to be persuaded not to seek the nomination, and in the event campaigned for her mother. In 2015, Suella Fernandes was elected for Fareham.

External links

• British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections