DUCHESS OF ATHOLL DEFEATED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 17

DUCHESS OF ATHOLL DEFEATED

* Kinross And west Perth by-election (Received December 23, 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 22. Polling in the Kinross and West Perth by-election resulted:— W. McNair Snadden (Conservative) 11,508. The Duchess of Atholl (Indepenent) 10,495. The figures at the last election were:—Duchess of Atholl (Conservative) 15,238; Mrs O. A. Macdonald (Liberal) 10,069; Conservative majority 5169. Sixty-seven per cent, of the electorate voted. Many were unable to vote owing to snowbound roads. Mr Snadden said that the result represented a vote of confidence in Mr Chamberlain. The Duchess of Atholl said: “I still think that the Government’s foreign policy is leading us into grave danger. I think that there will be a general election before long, at which I expect to stand again.” The total votes cast for Government candidates in the eight byelections since Munich were 196.686, compared with 176,796 for the Opposition. After differences with the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) on foreign policy, particularly regarding Spain—she is a strong supporter of the Republicans—the Duchess resigned her post as a National Government whip in April last. A majority of the committee of the Kinross and West Perth Unionist Association disagreeing with her opposition to the Government’s policy, the Duchess resigned her seat as a Conservative member in order to fight a by-election on the foreign policy issue