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I think the Orpington by-election was most significant because it signalled the recovery of the Liberals from the black hole they'd been in for some time.

I remember the night it camethrough, and the excitement of the various Liberal speakers.

Orpington easily -don't know the year but it was long before Simon Hughes. Orpington was the first and most important of the many Liberal resurrections. It really was a moribund party until then. Was it Thorpe? Can't remember I'm afraid.

I think the most significant byelection was the Crosby by-election, as it made Shirley Williams the first MP under the SDP label, with 49% of all votes.

This is without the benefit of Steve Richard's reports since every link reported an error but, from memory, Eastbourne was especially significant. Whatever happened elsewhere, the Tories could always rely on the leafy ±«Óătv Counties of the south east.

Eastbourne shattered that illusion. Others would follow (including Ribble Valley) but this was the moment the Tories realised they could no longer take anything for granted. In 1992, Major would have his majority cut but 101 limping on until 1997 before the final humiliation from which they have never really recovered.

But, to my mind, Eastbourne was where it began and it changed the political landscape irrevocably.

The Birmingham Ladywood by-election in 1977 was extremely significant and gets my nomination. Sitting MP, Labour's Brian Walden had resigned to become a TV pundit and the Liberals (765 votes) were beaten into third place by the National Front (888 votes).

As part of community resistance to an NF meeting at a local school there were street disturbances which led to the first deployment of riot shields in the UK (outside of Ulster).

Labour won with 8,227 votes and 53% of the poll. The NF's showing was one of the factors which was commented on by the founders of Rock against Racism in their call to action.

Liverpool Edge Hill, March 1979

Although this seat went from Labour to Liberal to an extent it presaged the general election in May that dumped the Labour governement in favour of the Tories.

Surely Newbury in 1993 when David Rendel turned a Tory 'safe' seat into a Liberal one. The seat came up after Judith Chaplin, a Major advisor died.
It also spawned the infamous Lamont quote of 'Je ne regrette ne rien' when the economy had been in freefall thereby effectively sealing the image of the Major Governments incompetence in fiscal matters from which they never recovered.

I admit I am a very sad man. So, when I got married last December, my new wife and 200 guests had to sit and listen to me explain why I thought Orpington was the most significant by-election of the last 50 years, because the old Establishment was humbled by the first proper grassroots campaign. It was only when we were on our honeymoon that I remembered Ashfield. My wife and I are still together - after all these months!

In know you asked for post-1945 by-elections, but I nominate the 1938 Oxford by-election. Though the pro-appeasement pro-Government candidate won in that case, it marked the beginning of the end for the old Tory party. Neville Chamberlain was gone two years later, which is about the maximum time Gordon Brown has left. A fundamental change followed over the next few years, and a big Tory victory now will see the same - pointing to an end of New Labour in 2010.

Definitely Orpington in 1962.

The most astounding by-election that I can remember. I think it was mainly due to the fact that for the first time since the war, the staid two party politics of the time, had been upset by the amazing result of the third party winning the seat.

Eric Lubbock was the hero of the hour, with a most famous victory for the Liberal party, out of the blue, leaving a deeply shocked Tory party.

His name is Quintin Hogg.

In February 1987 with 53% of the vote the SDP/Liberal Alliance took Greenwich from Labour which had held the seat since 1945. It was a stake through the heart of Old Labour and steam-age socialism.

Is Crewe and Nantwich important merely because it is likely to be the first drubbing the labour Party has had since 1997? Probably, but there coould be other issues:

Turnout: will it be bigger than Ashton-under-Lyne in 1928 with 89.1%?
Voter age: will the proportion of voters under 30 continue to drop (do the young continue to lose interest in politics)?
Principle: Is there any great principle at stake? Free Trade, Women's emancipation, Suez, Racism (Patrick Gordon-Walker failing at Leyton after failing at Smethwick)?
Perhaps it will be the start of a longer run of by-election losses for the Labour Party than the four between Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central in1976 and Grimsby in 1977.

Dudley West, 1994: Labour gain from the Tories on a swing of 28%. Without being partisan, the problem with all the Lib/Lib Dem/SDP victories is that they don't really change anything - it's just what they do. Dudley West marked the arrival of Tony Blair and New Labour and the road to 1997.

Orpington - but more importantly can we have less Lib-Dem bashing tonight?

After all they came second in the Local elections - and if you're rude about them you're being rude to 20% or so of your audience!

stool-pigeon

Even though I lived in Crosby when Shirley Williams became our MP, I think the Orpington be election was by far the most significant.

Has everyone forgotten Ribble Valley in 1991 which probably got rid of the Poll Tax.

Lib-Dems must be disappointed not to be benefitting markedly from Labour's nose-dive, despite having picked up a presentable leader, and seem to have given-up on today's by-election. This seems strange when they progressed reasonably steadily under a leader with a drink problem, and another who was judged to be too old. While Nick Clegg has obviously not yet impacted massively, he has brought forward Proportional Representation again and has had the integrity to call for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Perhaps he's not quirky enough for Lib-Dem voters.

Stratford-on-Avon 15 August 1963 was the most significant by-election since 1945. It was caused by the resignation of John Profumo on 06 June and attracted a lot of press and public interest.

A minor entertainer, David Edward Sutch, then only 22, seized the opportunity to gain some free publicity. However, he decided to produce a manifesto, which included such 'loony' ideas as reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 and opening the pubs all day.

Sutch polled only 209 votes and finished 5th out of 5: Angus Maud retained the seat for the Conservative government with Andrew Faulds (Carver Doone) a close second for Labour.

Both turned out to be political lightweights when compared to the brilliant Screaming Lord Sutch. His 'loony' ideas are now mainstream.

Re-20.
I'm so pleased that Screaming Lord Sutch is remembered fondly by david and I'm sure many others. Unfailingly funny and nice to people, many of whom were vile to him. And as you say, ahead of his time, just because he used his loaf, not because he saw himself as a serious political thinker. Sadly the voters failed time after time to embarrass the Establishment by putting him in H of C's, preferring his colourless oponents. How often the maverick turns out to be right.

Congratulations the ±«Óătv for your piss poor coverage of the Crewe by-election. The ±«Óătv has filled hours and hours of “news” airtime with coverage of the by-election but has managed to totally avoid asking questions that anybody (outside Westminster or the London media) actually care about such as: ‘what is the difference between the political positions of the different candidates’? Instead the ±«Óătv has stuck firmly to its basis in the planet Westminster mentality and chosen to amplify what MPs and the commentariat are chattering about, and reiterating how hopeless Gordon Brown is and how everything is his fault, and how David Cameron is increasingly looking like the ‘real deal’ despite the fact that the Conservatives have no policies that are identifiably different from Labour. Can I have my license fee back please?

As A disabled Driver with a motability Car What help can the panel see available in the future for people like myself now with a leased car I cant afford to put Petrol in ?

In politics the most significant by-election result must be the last one.

If only we could have a 'by-election' involving all of the parliamentary constituencies now, together with a supplementary and separate vote on the Treaty of Lisbon.

Congratulations the ±«Óătv for your rubbish coverage of the Crewe by-election. The ±«Óătv has filled hours and hours of “news” airtime with coverage of the by-election but has managed to totally avoid asking questions that anybody (outside Westminster or the London media) actually care about such as: ‘what is the difference between the political positions of the different candidates’? Instead the ±«Óătv has stuck firmly to its basis in the planet Westminster mentality and chosen to amplify what MPs and the commentariat are chattering about, and reiterating how hopeless Gordon Brown is and how everything is his fault, and how David Cameron is increasingly looking like the ‘real deal’ despite the fact that the Conservatives have no policies that are identifiably different from Labour. Can I have my license fee back please?

History will show the Crewe By-election to be the most significant. It is the time the Nation recognized the economic mess delivered by Gordon Brown.We need a Government that creates prosperity rather one that squanders it.