For a few weeks in late 1938, the focus of British politics was squarely on a parliamentary by-election in Bridgwater, normally a very safe Conservative seat.
War in Europe then seemed inevitable and imminent, due to Nazi Germany’s aggressive territorial ambitions. Having swallowed up Austria, Hitler focussed on Czechoslovakia, and Britain and France appeared to be following a policy of appeasement, hoping either to avoid war or, at least, to delay it until they had rearmed.
When the two powers acceded to Hitler’s demands at Munich in late September, this avoided the immediate threat of war. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of a Conservative-dominated coalition National Government became immortalised in the scene of him arriving back, waving a piece of paper setting out the Munich agreement, and was widely praised for his diplomacy. However, his opponents felt that this zenith of appeasement was a national humiliation, which would not prevent war in the near future.
The anti-appeasement forces had their chance to put Chamberlain’s policy to the public when a by-election arose in Bridgwater, after the sitting Tory MP was made a judge. Following much behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, the various opposition parties agreed to unite behind a common anti-appeasement candidate against the Conservative, Patrick Heathcoat-Amory.
Although the by-election was fought, in part, on general social and economic issues – this was, after all, still a time of depression and austerity – appeasement was its main focus. It came just after the more famous Oxford by-election, where an independent anti-appeasement candidate unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent Conservatives. As one leading academic study put it: “Oxford and Bridgwater were not just elections which happened to take place soon after the Munich settlement: they were the ‘Munich by-elections’”.
The anti-Government candidate was Vernon Bartlett, a noted journalist and commentator. Though he had provoked controversy in 1933, when some of his writings appeared sympathetic to the new Nazi regime in Germany, he later became an opponent of British foreign policy towards European Fascism.
Bartlett was initially reluctant to accept the role of candidate for Bridgwater because of his professed ignorance of important local subjects such as agriculture. But he soon discovered during the keenly-fought campaign that foreign policy was the dominant issue, with Heathcoat-Amory loyally supporting Chamberlain’s Munich agreement with Hitler.
On polling day, 17 November, there was a huge turnout – up from nearly 73% at the 1935 general election to over 82%. Bartlett won with a clear majority of over 2,300, taking 53% of the vote in a straight fight with the Tory candidate. In his victory speech, Bartlett proclaimed the result as “quite definitely a defeat for the Chamberlain policy … You can have no better proof that the nation as a whole realises the dangers of the Government’s foreign policy”.
He made a well-received maiden speech in the Commons on 6 December in a debate on National Voluntary Service, and remained Bridgwater’s MP for 12 years, winning again at the historic 1945 general election. He did not stand in the 1950 general election, preferring to return to full-time journalism. He died in Yeovilin 1983.
According to Bridgwater Town Council’s website, Bartlett “turned out to be the most respected MP the town ever had.”
© JB Seatrobe (Barry K Winetrobe & Janet Seaton) 2018. A version of this article was published originally in the March 2016 issue of the Somerset Leveller, #11.