The 1956 Chester-le-Street by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Chester-le-Street on 27 September 1956.
The by-election had been caused by the death aged 47 years on 25 June 1956 of the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Bartley.
In what was to be a straight fight between the two main parties, Labour chose Norman Pentland, a colliery checkweighman from Fatfield, County Durham as their candidate and the Conservatives selected the journalist William Rees-Mogg.
[1] The main political topic of the day was the Suez Crisis[2] but the cost of living and the performance of the government on the economy were also mentioned by Labour as issues in the campaign.
[3] In what was a safe Labour seat during a period of Conservative government, Pentland was easily elected with a majority of 21,287 votes.