The by-election was held due to the succession to the peerage of the incumbent Unionist MP, Mungo Murray, Lord Scone.
The Liberal Party, led by Sir Herbert Samuel had agreed to support the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald at the 1931 general election, with some reservations over the traditional Liberal policy of free trade and Norie-Miller fought the election publicly supporting the government .
However, instead of adopting James Scott as their Parliamentary candidate, the Perth Liberals invited Norie-Miller to fight the election as they learned that Perth Conservatives were willing not to oppose him at the by-election providing he stood as a National candidate.
[3] Scott was known as a strong supporter of Free Trade [4] whereas Norie-Miller favoured tariffs and protectionism.
[5] In a straight fight with the Labour candidate the former MP Adam McKinlay, Norie-Miller won the by-election on 16 April 1935 by a majority of 9,532.