[1] The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Antony Claud Frederick Lambton, resigned following a private scandal.

The Stewardship is a notional office of profit under the Crown, appointment to which vacates an MPs seat in Parliament.

Antony Lambton (10 July 1922 – 30 December 2006), was briefly the 6th Earl of Durham in 1970 but disclaimed that title to remain in the House of Commons.

Beith won the by-election and retained the seat until his retirement in 2015, and by the 2010 election was the longest serving Liberal Democrat MP.

The Labour Party was represented by Dr Gordon Johnston Adam, a mining engineer (born 28 March 1934).

In August 1973, he was chosen to fight the byelection in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and decided to focus on the issues of housing and prices.

[2] The Times Diary noted that Labour had drafted 13 professionals in to lead their campaign but described Adam as "a charm-free technocrat".

He had previously contested West Derbyshire in 1944, 1945 and 1967, and the 1971 Macclesfield by-election, finishing bottom of the poll each time.