Argyllshire by-election, 1940

The Argyllshire by-election, 1940 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Argyllshire, on 10 April 1940.

The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Unionist MP, Frederick Alexander Macquisten on 29 February 1940 at the age of 69. He had been MP here since gaining the seat in 1924.

Argyllshire had been won by the Unionists at every election since 1924 but was a marginal seat in which the Liberal Party had continued to challenge strongly. The result at the last General election was as follows;

At the outbreak of war, the Conservative, Liberal and Labour parties had agreed an electoral truce which meant that when a by-election occurred, the party that was defending the seat would not be opposed by an official candidate from the other two parties. Approaches were made by the Liberals to the Unionists for them to support Bannerman being returned rather than their own candidate. However, with the Liberal Party sitting in opposition to the Chamberlain led Government, this was never likely to happen. Both Bannerman and Weir duly withdrew.

On the 8 March, the largely insignificant Scottish National Party chose to intervene. On 12 March, they chose as their candidate, 66-year-old William Power who was from Glasgow.

Polling day was set for 10 April 1940. When nominations closed, it was to reveal a two horse race, between McCallum for the Unionists and Power, for the Nationalists.

McCallum was in Egypt at the time of the death of Macquisten and remained there until returning to Scotland after his first campaign meeting on 26 March 1940, more than two weeks after he knew he would be opposed.

Half of the constituency was in a restricted area, and candidates and speakers were required to obtain permits to pass in and out. The authorities rejected the permit applications of the Nationalist candidate, effectively restricting his movements.

The SNP campaign sought to highlight government neglect of the Highlands. Power chose not to disagree with the government's foreign policy.

Neville Chamberlain sent a message to McCallum stating, We are fighting for just and durable peace which will restore freedom and security to Europe and rid us of the perpetual menace of war. The Premier expressed the hope that "the electors of Argyllshire will send you to Parliament by such a majority as will provide convincing evidence of the national unity of purpose in the prosecution of the war."

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