[citation needed] Lancaster had been won by the Conservatives at every election since 1929 when they gained the seat from the Liberal, Robert Parkinson Tomlinson.
The result at the last general election was as follows; The local Conservatives selected first time candidate, 30-year-old Lt. Fitzroy MacLean.
The Liberals had selected 63-year-old Lt-Col. William Charles Ross to contest a general election expected to occur in 1939–40.
Before the war, the Labour party had selected Albert Edward Victor Ainsworth Farrer as prospective candidate.
The ILP were opposed to British participation in the Second World War, a position that Brockway did not share, though he served as Chair of the Central Board for Conscientious objectors.