Newark by-election, 2014

Newark by-election

← 2010 5 June 2015 →
Candidate Robert Jenrick Roger Helmer Michael Payne Party Conservative UKIP Labour Popular vote 17,431 10,028 6,842 Percentage 45.0 25.9 17.7
Map showing the Newark Parliamentary constituency within the English county of Nottinghamshire.
MP before election Patrick Mercer Conservative Subsequent MP Robert Jenrick Conservative

Patrick Mercer
Conservative

Robert Jenrick
Conservative

The Newark by-election was a by-election in the Newark constituency of the British House of Commons, which was held on 5 June 2014, following the resignation of Patrick Mercer. Conservative Robert Jenrick won the seat with a majority of 7,403.

Mercer resigned the Conservative Party whip on 31 May 2013 after an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme regarding allegations of paid lobbying without registering the interest. He was paid £4,000 for asking questions in Parliament, and the Panorama team considered that he asked five parliamentary questions, but declared only £2,000 of the £4,000. As a consequence, he said at the time that he would not stand in the 2015 general election.

On 29 April, after being told that the Committee on Standards would recommend that he be suspended from the House of Commons for six months, Mercer announced that he would resign his seat: he told journalists on College Green that he was standing down from "God's county of Nottinghamshire". Mercer was appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Three Chiltern Hundreds on 30 April 2014, a mechanism by which MPs resign.

The writ was moved on 1 May 2014 for the by-election to be held on 5 June.

The nominations closed at 4pm on Tuesday 13 May with 11 candidates being nominated.