2017 Manchester Gorton by-election

A by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Manchester Gorton was scheduled to take place on 4 May 2017, following the death of the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Sir Gerald Kaufman.

At the previous general election in 2015, he had won a large majority with over two-thirds of the vote, and Manchester Gorton was considered a safe seat.

On 18 April, Theresa May, the prime minister, called an early election for June 2017, meaning that Parliament would have been dissolved before the by-election took place.

[8] At the previous general election in 2015, Kaufman was re-elected with a large majority of over 24,000 votes, making the constituency a safe seat for the party.

[15] The local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) has been under special measures since 2004, so candidate selection was run by the National Executive Committee.

[10][16] The Manchester Evening News reported that a debate had been taking place for many years within the Gorton CLP over who would succeed Kaufman, and that the party was experiencing severe internal conflict as a result, with many local figures considering putting themselves forward.

[17] A selection panel of Keith Vaz, Glenis Willmott, Shabana Mahmood, Andi Fox and Claudia Webbe interviewed potential candidates on 20 March.

[18] The Labour longlist consisted of eight local councillors, the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Afzal Khan, and Sam Wheeler.

[17] The omission of two candidates seen as close to Corbyn, Sam Wheeler and Julie Reid, drew complaints from the left wing of the party.

[28] On 4 March, the Liberal Democrats announced their candidate as Jackie Pearcey, a former councillor for the ward of Gorton North,[29][30] who stood in the constituency in general elections in 1997 and 2001.

[4][32] Upon Galloway's announcement, both the Liberal Democrats and Greens attacked him for his strong support for Brexit, while Lisa Nandy of the Labour Party criticised his past comments about sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange.

[40][41] On 18 April, Theresa May, the Conservative prime minister, announced a plan to seek an early parliamentary general election on 8 June, meaning that Parliament would be dissolved at the time the by-election was scheduled to take place.

[45] MPs were then asked to overturn the writ for the poll, cancelling the by-election, which they did on 20 April,[46] leaving the seat vacant until the general election.