1988 Kensington by-election

The Kensington by-election, in Kensington, on 14 July 1988 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Brandon Rhys-Williams. Normally a relatively safe Conservative seat, it was narrowly won by Dudley Fishburn, who would retain the seat in 1992.

1988 Kensington by-election

14 July 1988
Constituency of Kensington
Turnout	51.6% ( 13.1%)
First party Second party   Lab Candidate Dudley Fishburn Patricia Holmes Party Conservative Labour Popular vote 9,829 9,014 Percentage 41.59% 38.14% Swing 5.9% 4.9%   Third party Fourth party   SLD SDP Candidate William Goodhart John Martin Party SLD SDP Popular vote 2,546 1,190 Percentage 10.77% 5.04% Swing 6.5% N/A
MP before election Brandon Rhys-Williams Conservative Subsequent MP Dudley Fishburn Conservative

It was the first by-election of that parliament, which had begun after the general election of June 1987, and would last until the next election in April 1992.

Candidates

• John Connell was a peace advocate who opposed what he saw as manipulation of the news by ITN.
• John Crowley described himself as an 'Anti Yuppie Revolutionary Crowleyist, Vegetarian Visionary'.
• John Duignan was a supporter of the Class War organisation.
• Roy Edey called for equal redistribution of wealth and a policy of social housing construction.
• Dudley Fishburn was a former editor of The Economist.
• William Goodhart was a leading human rights lawyer who has since taken a seat in the House of Lords.
• Brian Goodier described himself as an 'Anti-Left Wing Fascist'.
• Phylip Hobson was the Green Party candidate.
• Ann Holmes was again a candidate for this seat in the 1992 general election. and subsequently became a councillor in the City of London.
• John Martin was a candidate for the dissident wing of the SDP that had rejected membership of the Social and Liberal Democrats.
• Thomas McDermott was the founder of the Free Trade Liberal Party and campaigned on a platform of the UK leaving the European Community.
• Cynthia Payne, who had been convicted of controlling a brothel, ran under the 'Rainbow Alliance Payne and Pleasure Party' banner.
• William Scola represented his own 'Leveller Party'.
• Screaming Lord Sutch was the leader and founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
• Kailash Trivedi ran as candidate for the 'Janata Party' (Peoples Party in Hindi and the name of a former governing party in India), his own creation.

Results

1988 Kensington by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dudley Fishburn	9,829	41.59	−5.9
	Labour	Patricia Holmes	9,014	38.14	4.9
	SLD	William Goodhart	2,546	10.77	−6.5
	SDP	John Martin	1,190	5.04	N/A
	Green	Phylip Hobson	572	2.42	0.7
	Rainbow Alliance – Payne & Pleasure	Cynthia Payne	193	0.82	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	61	0.26	N/A
	London Class War Candidate	John Duignan	60	0.25	N/A
	Anti Left-Wing Fascist	Brian Goodier	31	0.13	N/A
	Free Trade Liberal – Europe Out!	Thomas McDermott	31	0.13	N/A
	Fair Wealth & Health	Roy Edey	30	0.13	N/A
	Leveller Party	William Scola	27	0.11	N/A
	Anti-Yuppie	John Crowley	24	0.10	N/A
	Peace – Stop ITN Manipulation	John Connell	20	0.08	N/A
	Independent Janata Party	Kailash Trivedi	5	0.02	N/A
Majority			815	3.55	−10.69
Turnout			23,633	51.6	−13.1
Registered electors			45,830
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.40

The results for the previous election were:

General election 1987: Kensington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	14,818	47.5	1.5
	Labour	Benjamin Bousquet	10,371	33.3	3.8
	SDP	William Goodhart	5,379	17.2	−4.9
	Green	Roger Shorter	528	1.7	−0.4
	Humanist	Lana Carrick	65	0.2	N/A
	Public Independent Plaintiff Party	Muriel Hughes	30	0.1	N/A
Majority			4,447	14.26	−2.14
Turnout			31,191	64.7	2.4
Registered electors			48,212
	Conservative hold		Swing

External links

• Campaign literature from the by-election
• Full results