Lincoln by-election, 1973

The Lincoln by-election of 1 March 1973 saw the re-election of Dick Taverne as Member of Parliament for Lincoln as a Democratic Labour representative, after Taverne's pro-Common Market views saw him repudiated by the Lincoln Constituency Labour Party. The by-election led to considerable speculation, stoked by Taverne, about the formation of a new centre party, but Taverne was unable to make his victory last.

Dick Taverne had first been elected in Lincoln at a previous by-election in 1962. His selection then had been controversial as the shortlist had been restricted to three supporters of Hugh Gaitskell in order to stop a left-wing candidate winning; a group of left-wingers led by Leo Beckett had walked out of the selection declaring that the three were "all of a kind". The left-wing faction soon gained ground in the local party although no moves were made against Taverne.

When the Labour Party went into opposition after 1970, tension between the Member of Parliament and his local party soon grew. In January 1971 Taverne threatened to denounce Don Gossop, district secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, if Gossop called for strike action against the Industrial Relations Bill.

On 5 July 1971 a committee of the local party voted to send to the annual Labour Party conference a motion highly critical of the application to join the European Communities which called upon all Labour MPs to oppose. At the conference, Leo Beckett called for a "vote of no-confidence against Mr Taverne if he votes in the Tory lobby"; however, less than a month later Taverne broke the Labour Party whip to vote in favour of accepting the terms and joining the European Common Market.

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