Elect

Abstract

After his Ladywood defeat Mosley was, more than ever, a young man in a hurry. He proclaimed his continuing commitment to Ladywood both in rhetoric and in funding, but he was eager to return to the Commons as quickly as possible. After six years in Westminster, electoral defeat risked marginalisation, not least in terms of the Labour Party hierarchy. The lengthy wait until the next general election made the prospect of a winnable by-election attractive. However compelling Mosley’s platform appeal and however seductive his money, any attempt to secure such a nomination faced personal and institutional obstacles. Several aspiring young recruits to Labour were looking for winnable constituencies. More seriously, some who had spent many years in the party had lost their seats in October 1924 and were keen to return. In several constituencies local notables had parliamentary ambitions. Trade unions were keen to protect and if possible expand their parliamentary holdings. The complexities of industrial and communal identities, the hopes of the ambitious, the need for local funds, the tension between deference and robust egalitarianism, all would shape Mosley’s experience of local Labour.