 | 'Whitton was on television on Thursday night, jauntily pointing out that he had notebooks detailing all his meetings with Dewar for the past two years and hinting heavily that they might make interesting reading one day. He did not have to add that the name Henry McLeish crops up repeatedly.' Douglas Fraser in the Sunday Herald, 29 th October 2000. |  |
The polls will take place in the constituencies of Glasgow Anniesland, West Bromwich West and Preston.
The Glasgow and Preston elections were caused by the deaths of Donald Dewar and Audrey Wise respectively.
The West Bromwich poll follows the resignation of Betty Boothroyd, the former Speaker, and her elevation to the House of Lords.
The writ for the elections was moved in the House of Commons by Chief Whip Ann Taylor.
The election for Mr Dewar's seat in the Scottish Parliament will also take place on 23 November.
Labour defends majorities
Labour's majority in Preston in the 1997 general election was 18,680 over the Conservatives.
Mr Dewar held Glasgow Anniesland in 1997 with a majority of 15,154 over the Scottish National Party, but that figure was only 10,993 in the 1999 election to the Scottish Parliament.
Standing as Speaker, Miss Boothroyd won West Bromwich West comfortably in 1997 against two minor parties. By convention, she was not opposed by the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats.
Miss Boothroyd won the seat comfortably for Labour in 1992, the last time the seat was properly contested. Allowing for boundary changes which have occurred since then, she was calculated to have had a majority of around 6,000 over the Tories.
Dennis Canavan, once a Labour MP but now an independent, has said that he will soon resign his Westminster seat of Falkirk West, but has not yet done so.
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