Thomas since 1910, a seat he held jointly with several other people because Derby was a two-member constituency until 1950.

In 1936, Thomas was forced to resign from the government after being caught giving away secrets in the budget through coded messages.

[3] National Labour selected Archibald Church to follow on as the Derby candidate.

[1] Philip Noel-Baker was chosen to represent Labour and had the support of Liberal former Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

The election was primarily fought on the issue of the British response to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.