British By-Elections 1769 - 2025: The 88 By-Election Campaigns that shaped our Politics

by Iain Dale (Editor), Gerry Hassan (Contributor)

Biteback Publishing British By-Elections ABISBOOK Biteback Publishing.

Hardcover

First published September 18, 2025

Reviews

[Líam P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compilation of essays is a whistle-stop tour through the entire history of modern British political life, from the days when elections were a show of hands, to the very recent Runcorn and Helsby victory of Reform by just six votes. Each of the eighty-eight essays are factual, deep in numbers and anecdotes, some more flow-y and chatty than others, and all rich in the context each by-election holds.

I was surprised that the mid-80s NI by-elections were omitted, though I guess trying to choose any to include or omit must have been hard. Still, this is a great compendium of political history told from a slightly different perspective than usual.

Sidebar: the appendices are taken wholesale from Wikipedia. I should know, because I created them.

[Hugo Collingridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating history of by-elections, written by multiple authors. I found the earlier chapters especially interesting, in particular the 20s and 30s, when Labour was slowly replacing the Liberals. By-elections also throw up intriguing characters who I enjoyed reading about. There were even a couple of later ones that I was involved in as an activist! Recommended for Politics obsessives.