“COMPLETE SURPRISE”
Conservatives' Election Decision NO OPPONENT FOR LIBERAL LEADER NZPA—Copyright Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 11. The chairman of the Liberal Party Executive, Mr Frank Byers, speaking at Wembley, said the Conservative Party’s decision yesterday not to oppose the Liberal leader, Mr Clement Davies, at Montgomery in the next election “ came as a complete surprise ” to Liberal headquarters. “We had no indication that such a move was contemplated,” Mr Byers said, “but to get the matter into perspective one should recognise that the Tory vote at the last election declined by over 3000, and it is not surprising that the Conservatives should decide not to waste money on a seat they cannot win.
“ Furthermore,” Mr Byers said, “ their statement that their candidate has been withdrawn ‘ for the time being ’ contains an implied threat which will have no effect whatever on the independence of action and expression of a man of the calibre of Clement Davies. It would be much more to the point if the Conservatives decided to stand aside in constituencies where only a Liberal can defeat a Socialist.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19501012.2.84
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 27518, 12 October 1950, Page 7
Word Count
181“COMPLETE SURPRISE” Otago Daily Times, Issue 27518, 12 October 1950, Page 7
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in