View source for 2004 Hartlepool by-election

{{Short description|UK Parliament by-election}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 2004 Hartlepool by-election
| type = parliamentary
| country = United Kingdom
| seats_for_election = [[Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)|Hartlepool]] parliamentary seat
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 2001 United Kingdom general election
| previous_year = 2001
| next_election = 2005 United Kingdom general election
| next_year = 2005
| election_date = 30 September 2004
| turnout = 45.8% ({{decrease}} 10.0%)
| candidate1 = [[Iain Wright]]
| image1 = [[File:Iain Wright.jpg|110px]]
| party1 = Labour Party (UK)
| popular_vote1 = '''12,752'''
| percentage1 = '''40.7%'''
| swing1 = {{decrease}} '''18.5%'''
| candidate2 = Jody Dunn
| image2 = [[File:No image.svg|110px]]
| party2 = Liberal Democrats (UK)
| popular_vote2 = 10,719
| percentage2 = 34.2%
| swing2 = {{increase}} 19.2%
| candidate4 = Stephen Allison
| image4 = 
| party4 = UK Independence Party
| popular_vote4 = 3,193
| percentage4 = 10.2%
| swing4 = ''New''
| candidate5 = Jeremy Middleton
| image5 = 
| party5 = Conservative Party (UK)
| popular_vote5 = 3,044
| percentage5 = 9.7%
| swing5 = {{decrease}} 11.1%
| title = MP
| posttitle = Subsequent MP
| before_election = [[Peter Mandelson]]
| before_party = Labour Party (UK)
| after_election = [[Iain Wright]]
| after_party = Labour Party (UK)
}}

[[Image:EnglandHartlepool.png|right|thumb|Location of Hartlepool constituency]]
On 23 July 2004, the member of parliament for [[Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)|Hartlepool]], in England, [[Peter Mandelson]] ([[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]), was nominated as the United Kingdom's new [[European Commissioner for Trade]]. On 8 September, he accepted the office of [[Manor of Northstead|Steward of the Manor of Northstead]], thereby disqualifying himself from Parliament, and causing a by-election. Polling took place on 30 September.

It was the last of six by-elections held during the 2001–2005 Parliament.

==Result==
Out of a registered electorate of 68,517, there were 31,362 valid votes, making a turnout of 45.77%. This was the highest by-election turnout since the [[2000 Romsey by-election|Romsey by-election]] in May 2000. The [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] candidate [[Iain Wright]] won the seat with a majority of 2,033, a substantially reduced majority. The Liberal Democrat vote more than doubled, leaving that party a close second. The [[UK Independence Party|United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP) held its deposit, and beat the Conservative Party into fourth place.

This marked the first time UKIP had come third in a by-election (and followed a successful [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|European election]] in June 2004, in which countrywide it had come third and won twelve seats). It would be over six years before the party improved on this position, when it took second place at [[2011 Barnsley Central by-election|Barnsley Central in 2011]]. It would go on to win a by-election for the first time a little over a decade after the Hartlepool contest, in [[2014 Clacton by-election|Clacton in October 2014]].

The Conservative vote in Hartlepool dropped considerably, leaving the party in fourth place for the first time in an English by-election since [[1991 Liverpool Walton by-election|Liverpool Walton in 1991]].

{{Election box begin | title=2004 Hartlepool by-election<ref name="Demon">{{cite web|url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/by2001.html|title=Results of Byelections in the 2001-2005 Parliament|last=Boothroyd|first=David|access-date=2015-10-05|website=United Kingdom Election Results|archive-date=1 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201183331/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/by2001.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Labour Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[Iain Wright]]
  |votes      = 12,752
  |percentage = 40.7
  |change     = –18.5
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Democrats (UK) 
  |candidate  = Jody Dunn
  |votes      = 10,719
  |percentage = 34.2
  |change     = +19.2
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = UK Independence Party
  |candidate  = Stephen Allison
  |votes      = 3,193
  |percentage = 10.2
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Conservative Party (UK)
  |candidate  = Jeremy Middleton
  |votes      = 3,044
  |percentage = 9.7
  |change     = –11.1
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = RESPECT The Unity Coalition
  |candidate  = John Bloom
  |votes      = 572
  |percentage = 1.8
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Green Party of England and Wales
  |candidate  = Iris Ryder
  |votes      = 255
  |percentage = 0.8
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = National Front (UK)
  |candidate  = John Starkey
  |votes      = 246
  |percentage = 0.8
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate|
  |party      = Independent
  |candidate  = Peter Watson
  |votes      = 139
  |percentage = 0.4
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Socialist Labour Party (UK)
  |candidate  = Christopher Herriot
  |votes      = 95
  |percentage = 0.3
  |change     = –2.1
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = The Common Good (political party)
  |candidate  = Dick Rodgers
  |votes      = 91
  |percentage = 0.3
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Independent (politician)
  |candidate  = Philip Berriman
  |votes      = 90
  |percentage = 0.3
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Official Monster Raving Loony Party
  |candidate  = [[Howling Laud Hope|Alan Hope]]
  |votes      = 80
  |percentage = 0.3
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate|
  |party      = Independent (Rainbow)
  |candidate  = [[Ronnie Carroll]]
  |votes      = 45
  |percentage = 0.1
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = English Democrats Party
  |candidate  = Ed Abrams
  |votes      = 41
  |percentage = 0.1
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 2,033
  |percentage = 6.5
  |change     = –31.7
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 31,362
  |percentage = 45.8
  |change     = –10.0
}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
  |winner     = Labour Party (UK)
  |swing      = -11.5
}}
{{Election box end}}

[[Robert Kilroy-Silk]] of [[United Kingdom Independence Party|UKIP]] initially suggested he might stand but later ruled this out, as did [[Hartlepool]] and [[Middlesbrough]] mayors [[Stuart Drummond]] and [[Ray Mallon]].

Preceding by-elections had seen the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] come from third place to beat the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], and in [[2003 Brent East by-election|Brent East]] and [[2004 Leicester South by-election|Leicester South]] take seats from [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]. The seat was safer (judging by the 2001 result) than Leicester but was vulnerable to swings such as achieved in Brent, or in [[2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election|Birmingham Hodge Hill]] where the Liberal Democrats narrowly failed to win.

In the event, the Liberal Democrats were not quite able to repeat these performances. Their campaign suffered from the choice of a candidate who was not from [[Hartlepool]], while the Labour candidate had been born and brought up in the town.

In addition, the Liberal Democrat candidate made reference, on a campaign blog, to having canvassed a street where everyone she met "was either drunk, flanked by an angry dog, or undressed"; this happened despite a Liberal Democrat minder, [[Ed Fordham]], having been appointed by the party's Campaigns Department to proof read Dunn's blog before any posts went up. Fordham removed a reference to some of the people canvassed being Labour supporters, but he thought the rest of the comment was fine.<ref>Greg Hurst, ''Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw'' (Politico's, London, 2006) p.196</ref>

Labour gave wide publicity to this remark and asserted that it was an insult to the people of Hartlepool. Dunn defended her remarks on the ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' programme, in a performance that was perceived to be unconvincing, so Labour Party vans toured the constituency playing her ''Today'' interview on loudspeakers.<ref>Greg Hurst, ''Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw'' (Politico's, London, 2006) p.197</ref>

Hartlepool had no significant ethnic minority vote, unlike the other three by-elections. The Liberal Democrats were nevertheless content to claim the large swing to them, and the Conservatives' fourth place established the Liberal Democrats as the main opposition party to Labour in the seat. UKIP did well with a local candidate, and its message of opposition to [[Common Fisheries Policy|European Union fishing rules]] was a popular one in a port town.

The Conservative Party dropped from second place at the 2001 general election to fourth place, its worst place in an English by-election since 1991.

Labour believed its performance good, for it came at the end of a very long campaign (effectively seventy-one days), and with a swing markedly smaller than in other seats over the previous year; the party also regarded the result – along with that in Hodge Hill – as a vindication of its decision to aggressively attack the Liberal Democrats and essentially ignore the Conservative challenge.

==Previous result==
From the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]].
{{Election box begin |
  |title=[[2001 United Kingdom general election|General election 2001]]: Hartlepool
}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Labour Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[Peter Mandelson]]
  |votes      = 22,506
  |percentage = 59.1
  |change     = –1.6
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Conservative Party (UK)
  |candidate  = Gus Robinson
  |votes      = 7,935
  |percentage = 20.9
  |change     = –0.5
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Democrats (UK) 
  |candidate  = Nigel Boddy
  |votes      = 5,717
  |percentage = 15.0
  |change     = +1.0
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Socialist Labour Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[Arthur Scargill]]
  |votes      = 912
  |percentage = 2.4
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Independent (politician)
  |candidate  = Ian Cameron
  |votes      = 557
  |percentage = 1.5
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Independent (politician)
  |candidate  = John Booth
  |votes      = 424
  |percentage = 1.1
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 14,571
  |percentage = 38.2
  |change     = -1.2
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 38,051
  |percentage = 55.8
  |change     = –9.8
}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
  |winner     = Labour Party (UK)
  |swing      =
}}
{{Election box end}}

== See also ==
* [[2021 Hartlepool by-election]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090821055405/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/hartlepool04.html Hartlepool by-election leaflets]

{{By-elections to the 53rd UK Parliament}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartlepool By-Election, 2004}}
[[Category:Politics of the Borough of Hartlepool]]
[[Category:2004 elections in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:2004 in England]]
[[Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Durham constituencies]]
[[Category:2000s in County Durham]]