1965 Cities of London and Westminster by-election
# 1965 Cities of London and Westminster by-election

The Cities of London and Westminster by-election of 4 November 1965 was held after the death of Conservative MP and Speaker of the House of Commons Harry Hylton-Foster.

The seat was safe, having been won at the 1964 United Kingdom general election by over 10,000 votes.

Labour's by-election candidate Alexander Pringle was a Chelsea borough councillor and Head of English at Westminster City School. He was the son of William Pringle, who had been a Liberal MP from 1910 to 1918 and 1922 to 1924.

## Result of the previous general election

General election 1964: Cities of London and Westminster :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Speaker | Harry Hylton-Foster | 21,588 | 58.37 | -6.73 |
| | Labour | Ronald Wallace | 11,309 | 30.58 | +6.18 |
| | Liberal | John W Derry | 4,087 | 11.05 | +0.55 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,279 | 27.79 | -12.91 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,984 | 59.66 | -1.64 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,988 | | |
| | Speaker gain from Conservative | Speaker gain from Conservative | Swing | | |

## Result of the by-election

By-election 1965: Cities of London and Westminster :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Conservative | John Smith | 15,037 | 59.53 | +1.16 |
| | Labour | Alexander Pringle | 8,300 | 32.86 | +2.28 |
| | Liberal | Stephen Jakobi | 1,595 | 6.32 | -4.73 |
| | Independent | Desmond Burgess | 326 | 1.29 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,737 | 26.47 | -1.32 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,258 | 41.80 | -17.86 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | | | |
| | Conservative gain from Speaker | Conservative gain from Speaker | Swing | -0.6 | |
