1962 Orpington by-election

The Liberals took a Conservative seat in suburban Kent on March 14, 1962, turning a Tory majority of 14,760 into a Liberal one of 7,855 for Eric Lubbock. The result is often described as the start of the Liberal revival, and the press conjured up "Orpington man," the commuter voter who had drifted away from Harold Macmillan's Conservatives. Start here to see where the modern pattern began: a third party using one by-election to tell the whole country it is back in the game.