‘An Odious Campaign’: The Ross and Cromarty By-Election of 1936

When former Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and his son Malcolm lost their seats in the 1935 General Election, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin wanted both men returned to Parliament quickly. The seemingly safe seat of Ross and Cromarty became vacant in January 1936. Malcolm MacDonald was selected to be the National Government candidate. What should have been a formality became a bitter and extraordinary by-election. Enraged by this apparent attempt to foist a former Labour MP on them, the local Liberal and Unionist Associations decided to field independent candidates. The Unionists’ choice of candidate – Randolph Churchill, son of Winston Churchill – proved explosive.

So began a memorable, abusive and ‘odious’ campaign contested by the sons of two British Prime Ministers, men who loathed one another and made no attempt to conceal the fact. Remarkably, no fewer than six children of previous, current or future Prime Ministers would be involved in the campaign, a record that is unlikely to be beaten. The campaign, occurring during the worst winter for 50 years, encompassed the death of King George V, the hospitalisation of a candidate, car crashes aplenty, rampaging deer and candidates coming perilously close to being run out of town by enraged locals.

The 1936 Ross and Cromarty by-election is an entertaining slice of history that resonates with current British Parliamentary politics.

Rob McInroy

9781913836498 – £11.99