The by-election attracted especial attention, both at the time and since, as it was seen as a crucial electoral test of the viability of the Lloyd George Coalition Government, formed of followers of David Lloyd George with the Conservative Party, the latter of which contained an increasing number of members who wished to leave the coalition and regain the party's independence.

The county borough of Newport was a large industrial town that had greatly expanded in the late nineteenth century and had consequently been granted a constituency in its own right in the 1918 redistribution.

The key breach came over the 1921 Licensing Bill which raised the question of whether Monmouthshire was part of Wales or England.

The Bill included Monmouthshire with Wales and so threatened early closing, whilst Haslam's support for the temperance movement provoked further hostility.

Consequently the local Conservatives moved to adopt an official candidate of their own for the next general election, choosing Reginald Clarry on 26 July 1922.

The local association nominally supported David Lloyd George rather than H. H. Asquith in the split in the party, but by 1922 this may have been a tactical measure to prevent the establishment of a separate Lloyd George Liberal Party, as had happened in constituencies where the association supported Asquith.

Many expected Bowen to win for Labour and both the Conservative and Liberal supporting press tried to argue that the other candidate was out of the running.