# 1988 Kensington by-election

The Kensington by-election, in Kensington, on 14 July 1988 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Brandon Rhys-Williams. Normally a relatively safe Conservative seat, it was narrowly won by Dudley Fishburn, who would retain the seat in 1992.
It was the first by-election of that parliament, which had begun after the general election of June 1987, and would last until the next election in April 1992.

## Candidates

* John Connell was a peace advocate who opposed what he saw as manipulation of the news by ITN.
* John Crowley described himself as an 'Anti Yuppie Revolutionary Crowleyist, Vegetarian Visionary'.
* John Duignan was a supporter of the Class War organisation.
* Roy Edey called for equal redistribution of wealth and a policy of social housing construction.
* Dudley Fishburn was a former editor of The Economist.
* William Goodhart was a leading human rights lawyer who has since taken a seat in the House of Lords.
* Brian Goodier described himself as an 'Anti-Left Wing Fascist'.
* Phylip Hobson was the Green Party candidate.
* Ann Holmes was again a candidate for this seat in the 1992 general election. and subsequently became a councillor in the City of London.
* John Martin was a candidate for the dissident wing of the SDP that had rejected membership of the Social and Liberal Democrats.
* Thomas McDermott was the founder of the Free Trade Liberal Party and campaigned on a platform of the UK leaving the European Community.
* Cynthia Payne, who had been convicted of controlling a brothel, ran under the 'Rainbow Alliance Payne and Pleasure Party' banner.
* William Scola represented his own 'Leveller Party'.
* Screaming Lord Sutch was the leader and founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
* Kailash Trivedi ran as candidate for the 'Janata Party' (Peoples Party in Hindi and the name of a former governing party in India), his own creation.

## Results

1988 Kensington by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Dudley Fishburn | 9,829 | 41.59 | −5.9 |
| | Labour | Patricia Holmes | 9,014 | 38.14 | +4.9 |
| | SLD | William Goodhart | 2,546 | 10.77 | −6.5 |
| | SDP | John Martin | 1,190 | 5.04 | N/A |
| | Green | Phylip Hobson | 572 | 2.42 | +0.7 |
| | Rainbow Alliance – Payne & Pleasure | Cynthia Payne | 193 | 0.82 | N/A |
| | Monster Raving Loony | Screaming Lord Sutch | 61 | 0.26 | N/A |
| | London Class War Candidate | John Duignan | 60 | 0.25 | N/A |
| | Anti Left-Wing Fascist | Brian Goodier | 31 | 0.13 | N/A |
| | Free Trade Liberal – Europe Out! | Thomas McDermott | 31 | 0.13 | N/A |
| | Fair Wealth & Health | Roy Edey | 30 | 0.13 | N/A |
| | Leveller Party | William Scola | 27 | 0.11 | N/A |
| | Anti-Yuppie | John Crowley | 24 | 0.10 | N/A |
| | Peace – Stop ITN Manipulation | John Connell | 20 | 0.08 | N/A |
| | Independent Janata Party | Kailash Trivedi | 5 | 0.02 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 815 | 3.55 | −10.69 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 23,633 | 51.6 | −13.1 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 45,830 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | -5.40 | |
The results for the previous election were:
General election 1987: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 14,818 | 47.5 | +1.5 |
| | Labour | Benjamin Bousquet | 10,371 | 33.3 | +3.8 |
| | SDP | William Goodhart | 5,379 | 17.2 | −4.9 |
| | Green | Roger Shorter | 528 | 1.7 | −0.4 |
| | Humanist | Lana Carrick | 65 | 0.2 | N/A |
| | Public Independent Plaintiff Party | Muriel Hughes | 30 | 0.1 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,447 | 14.26 | −2.14 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,191 | 64.7 | +2.4 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 48,212 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |