1913 Chesterfield by-election

Haslam complied with this request and at both the January and December 1910 general elections was re-elected as a Labour Party candidate without facing a Liberal opponent.

The Unionists adopted Edward Christie of Hendon and the Derbyshire Miners selected Barnet Kenyon, then treasurer of their Association and one of its most popular officials to be the Labour candidate.

In return he would be known as the Labour-Progressive member and would have full freedom to speak and vote as he wished on issues affecting mining and labour.

The Act covered sickness, invalidity and unemployment benefits and brought real improvement in getting access to a doctor for poorer patients.

[7] However, regulations which the Insurance Commissioners (the body of civil servants responsible for administering the legislation) had introduced were believed to be adversely affecting many patients.

The Chesterfield Medical Association, a local friendly society, which was variously reported to have had 4,000 or 7,000 members many of whom were Liberal voters, were incensed at the new regulations.

[5] There was even a realistic prospect of an independent candidate being put up to fight on the health insurance issue,[9] although negotiation with government to gain concessions was preferred and a meeting was hastily arranged at the House of Commons between a deputation from the Chesterfield Medical Association and Lloyd George the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Charles Masterman.

[10] Scurr had fought a Parliamentary election as a socialist before, at South West Bethnal Green in 1911 where he came bottom of the poll by a long margin.

It was reported on 15 August that he had "...virtually declared war on Mr Kenyon and the many trade unionists like him who refused to cut themselves adrift from the Liberal Party."

They did not welcome the intrusions into their independence from Liberal or Labour organisations locally or nationally[17] and Kenyon was probably trying to accommodate these sensibilities while obtaining the right levels of support from those best placed to help get him elected.

There was a real fear that miners' organisations, particularly in the East Midlands could disaffiliate from Labour and revert to their earlier loyalty to the Liberal Party.

[24] This action, which might have been anticipated given all that gone on around his candidacy in the by-election, seems to have taken the Derbyshire Miners by surprise (or perhaps presented left-wing elements within the organisation with an opportunity) because they convened a special meeting in response to Kenyon's announcement and were considering calling on him to resign his seat or sever his connections with the union, including giving up the house he occupied as an official of the Federation.

[25] The Miners' Federation made their choice between Labour and Liberal soon afterwards when they decided that all future Parliamentary candidates endorsed by the union must fight on strictly Labour lines and while it is not clear if they called on Kenyon to stand down from the House of Commons at that point, it was implicit that they would put up another Miners' candidate against him at the next election.