The 1940 Leeds North East by-election was a parliamentary by-election in England held on 13 March 1940 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds North East.
The vacancy was caused by the resignation on 8 February 1940 of the sitting Member, Sir John Birchall, through the procedural device of appointment as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.
[2] The by-election was held during World War II, and the five largest political parties – Conservative, Labour, Liberal, National Labour and National Liberal – were all members of the Coalition Government.
As such, they maintained an electoral pact and agreed not to contest any by-elections in seats held by any other party in the Government.
The Conservative candidate, John Craik-Henderson, was opposed only by Sydney Allen of the British Union of Fascists.