List of UK minor party and independent MPs elected


This is a list of members of the United Kingdom House of Commons who were elected as an independent or as a member of a minor political party.
Excluded are the Speaker, who traditionally stands for re-election without party affiliation, and MPs who were elected from a major party but then defected during a parliamentary term.

Great Britain

In Great Britain, the major parties are considered to be the Conservative and Unionist Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and its forerunners, the Liberal Unionist Party, the various National Liberal parties, National Labour, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.
Minor party and independent MPs have been rare in recent times — there have been only 13 different persons elected as such in Great Britain since 1950.

1950–present

  1. In 1945 and 1950, MacLeod was the nominee of the Ross and Cromarty Liberal Association, but this was not connected the Liberal Party nationally. He was a supporter of Winston Churchill and from 1951 became an official National Liberal and Conservative candidate and MP.
  2. Robertson had been an official Conservative MP for the seat since 1950 but resigned the party whip in 1959 in opposition to the Government's Scottish policy and fought the election without a Conservative opponent.
  3. Davies had been the Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil since 1934 but in the run-up to the 1970 general election he was deselected by his local party on grounds of age. He stood again against the new Labour candidate and won.
  4. Taverne was the sitting Labour MP for Lincoln who was increasingly at odds with his ever more left-wing local party. In 1973 he was deselected as an official Labour candidate. He resigned from Parliament and fought the ensuing by-election as a Democratic Labour candidate against the official Labour nominee, holding the seat in the February 1974 general election but losing in October 1974.
  5. Milne was the sitting Labour MP for Blyth who was deselected by his local party in disputes surrounding Labour Party corruption in the North East. He stood against the official Labour nominee and won the seat, but lost in the October 1974 general election.
  6. Bell, a BBC News war reporter, was nominated as a single issue candidate in opposition to the "sleaze" allegations surrounding the sitting Conservative MP for Tatton, Neil Hamilton. Both the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates in support of Bell.
  7. Taylor was the nominee of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, a party formed around the single issue of keeping the casualty unit at Kidderminster General Hospital. In both the 2001 and 2005 general elections his candidature was not opposed by the Liberal Democrats.
  8. Law was the sitting Labour Member of the Welsh Assembly for Blaenau Gwent who stood for the Westminster Parliament following a dispute over the selection of the official Labour candidate, Maggie Jones, involving an all women shortlist, a process that was opposed by many members and officials in the local party, including the retiring Labour MP Llew Smith.
  9. Galloway was the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead from 1987 and then Glasgow Kelvin following name and boundary changes in 1997. In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party when a party body found that he had brought the party into disrepute over the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He helped form Respect and challenged incumbent Bethnal Green & Bow Labour MP Oona King who had supported the war.
  10. Davies had been the electoral agent of Peter Law in the general election.

    1919–1950

  11. Stood as a "Labour Party" candidate, but without the backing of the Labour Party and did not take the Labour Party whip.
  12. Due to an oversight, Maclean's candidature was not endorsed by the Labour Party. Once elected, he immediately took the Labour Party whip.

    1832–1918

Excluded during this period are MPs from the Conservative and Liberal Parties, the Labour Party and the Labour Representation Committee, the Liberal Unionist Party, the Whigs and the Tories. Before 1885 it becomes increasingly difficult to identify which MPs were independent, and F. W. S. Craig's classification is used.
ElectionMember of ParliamentConstituencyParty/Description
1918Douglas KingNorth NorfolkCoalition Independent
1918Alfred WatersonKetteringCo-operative Party
1918Horatio BottomleyHackney SouthIndependent
1918Noel Pemberton-BillingHertfordIndependent
1918Frank Herbert RoseAberdeen NorthIndependent Labour
1918Owen ThomasAngleseyIndependent Labour
1918Josiah WedgwoodNewcastle-under-LymeIndependent Liberal
1918Robert Hewitt BarkerSowerbyIndependent NADSS
1918George BarnesGlasgow GorbalsCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Clement EdwardsEast Ham SouthCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Joseph Frederick GreenLeicester WestCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Eldred HallasBirmingham DuddestonCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Charles JessonWalthamstow WestCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Charles Edgar LosebyBradford EastCoalition National Democratic Party
1918Matthew Turnbull SimmWallsendCoalition National Democratic Party
1918James Andrew SeddonHanleyCoalition National Democratic Party
1918James WaltonDon ValleyCoalition National Democratic Party
1918T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1918Richard CooperWalsallNational Party
1918Henry Page CroftBournemouthNational Party
1918Jack JonesSilvertownNational Socialist Party
1917 Benjamin TillettSalford NorthIndependent Labour
1916 Noel Pemberton BillingHertfordIndependent
1915 Charles StantonMerthyr TydfilIndependent Labour
1913 John WestonKendalIndependent Conservative
Dec 1910Francis Bennett-GoldneyCanterburyIndependent Conservative
Dec 1910T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
Jan 1910Archibald CorbettGlasgow TradestonIndependent Liberal
Jan 1910Samuel StoreySunderlandIndependent Conservative
Jan 1910T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1907 Victor GraysonColne ValleyColne Valley Labour League
1906John Wilkinson TaylorChester-le-StreetIndependent Labour
1906John WilliamsGowerIndependent Lib-Lab
1906T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1904 J. E. B. SeelyIsle of WightIndependent Conservative
1902 Cathcart WasonOrkney and ShetlandIndependent Liberal
1900John AustinOsgoldcrossIndependent Liberal
1900T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1899 John AustinOsgoldcrossIndependent Liberal
1895T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1894 John MacleodSutherlandLiberal/Crofter
1892John BurnsBatterseaIndependent Labour
1892Keir HardieWest Ham SouthIndependent Labour
1892Havelock WilsonMiddlesbroughIndependent Labour
1892Edward WatkinHytheIndependent Liberal
1892T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1888 William Pritchard MorganMerthyr TydfilIndependent Liberal
1886T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1885Robert AnstrutherSt Andrews BurghsIndependent Liberal
1885John Macdonald CameronWick BurghsIndependent Liberal
1885George CampbellKirkcaldy BurghsIndependent Liberal
1885Charles ConybeareCamborneIndependent Liberal/Radical
1885Joseph CowenNewcastle upon TyneIndependent Liberal
1885John Wentworth-FitzwilliamPeterboroughIndependent Liberal
1885George GoschenEdinburgh EastIndependent Liberal
1885George HarrisonEdinburgh SouthIndependent Liberal
1885Charles Stuart ParkerPerthIndependent Liberal
1885Edward William WatkinHytheIndependent Liberal
1885John WilsonEdinburgh CentralIndependent Liberal
1885Gavin Brown ClarkCaithnessIndependent Liberal / Crofter
1885Charles Fraser-MackintoshInverness-shireIndependent Liberal / Crofter
1885Roderick MacDonaldRoss and CromartyIndependent Liberal / Crofter
1885Donald Horne MacfarlaneArgyllIndependent Liberal / Crofter
1885William AbrahamRhonddaIndependent Lib-Lab
1885T. P. O'ConnorLiverpool ScotlandNationalist Party
1875 Edward KenealyStokeIndependent
1847Feargus O'ConnorNottinghamChartist

Northern Ireland

MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, Social Democratic and Labour Party or Ulster Unionist Party, including those Ulster Unionists who stood as part of the Conservative Party, are excluded. While these four are all currently regarded as major parties, each of these parties has at times held only a single seat, and for many years Sinn Féin was a banned organisation and did not contest elections. Also excluded are MPs from the Nationalist Party, which dissolved in 1977 but was formerly considered a major party.
ElectionMember of ParliamentConstituencyParty/Description
2019Stephen FarryNorth DownAlliance
2017Sylvia Hermon1North DownIndependent
2015Sylvia Hermon1North DownIndependent
2010Naomi LongBelfast EastAlliance
2010Sylvia Hermon1North DownIndependent
1997Robert McCartneyNorth DownUK Unionist Party
1995 Robert McCartneyNorth DownUK Unionist Party
1992James Kilfedder 2North DownUlster Popular Unionist Party
1987James Kilfedder 2North DownUlster Popular Unionist Party
1986 James Kilfedder 2North DownUlster Popular Unionist Party
1983James Kilfedder 2North DownUlster Popular Unionist Party
1981 Owen Carron 3Fermanagh and South TyroneAnti H-Block
1981 Bobby Sands 4Fermanagh and South TyroneAnti H-Block
1979Frank Maguire 5Fermanagh and South TyroneIndependent Republican
1979James Kilfedder 2North DownIndependent Ulster Unionist
1979John Dunlop 5Mid UlsterUnited Ulster Unionist Party
Oct 1974Frank Maguire 5Fermanagh and South TyroneIndependent Republican
Oct 1974Robert Bradford 7Belfast SouthVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Oct 1974William Craig 7Belfast EastVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Oct 1974John Dunlop 6Mid UlsterVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Feb 1974Robert Bradford 7Belfast SouthVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Feb 1974William Craig 7Belfast EastVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Feb 1974John Dunlop 6Mid UlsterVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
1970Ian Paisley 8North AntrimProtestant Unionist Party
1970Gerry Fitt 9Belfast WestRepublican Labour Party
1970Bernadette DevlinMid UlsterUnity
1970Frank McManusFermanagh and South TyroneUnity
1969 Bernadette DevlinMid UlsterOpposition Unity
1966Gerry Fitt 9Belfast WestRepublican Labour Party
1956 George ForrestMid UlsterIndependent Unionist
1951Michael O'NeillMid UlsterIndependent Nationalist
1951Jack BeattieBelfast WestIrish Labour Party
1945Jack BeattieBelfast WestIndependent Labour
1945James Little 10DownIndependent Unionist
1943 Jack BeattieBelfast WestNorthern Ireland Labour Party
1919 George Boyle HannaEast AntrimIndependent Unionist

  1. Hermon was an Ulster Unionist MP for North Down from 2001-2010 when she left the party in opposition to the party's electoral pact with the NI Conservatives to form UCU-NF. She retained her seat at the 2010 general election, and at the next two general elections.
  2. Kilfedder was an Ulster Unionist MP for Belfast West 1964-1966 and for North Down until 1977 when he left the party in opposition to Enoch Powell's proposals for integration over devolution. Kilfedder sat as an Independent Unionist until 1980, then formed the Ulster Popular Unionist Party which primarily served as a vehicle for him and his supporters.
  3. Carron was elected on the issue of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, standing as a "Anti H-Block/Proxy Political Prisoner" after new laws banned the nomination of any of the hunger strikers. He did not take his seat in the House of Commons. From 1982 onwards he was standing as a Sinn Féin in elections, including his unsuccessful defence of this seat in the 1983 general election.
  4. Sands was the most prominent of the Irish Hunger Strikers and incarcareted at HM Prison Maze at the time of his election, though he was ideologically opposed to taking his seat in the Commons.
  5. Maguire was the product of an electoral pact amongst Irish Nationalists. Although in the tradition of the prior Unity pact, he did not use the label. He did take his seat in the House of Commons, though only attended rarely.
  6. Dunlop was the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party MP for Mid Ulster from February 1974, until the party split over leader William Craig's proposals for power-sharing with the Social Democratic and Labour Party in 1976. One faction, to which Dunlop belonged, formed the United Ulster Unionist Party, under which banner he stood and sat for the constituency until standing down at the 1983 election.
  7. Craig and Bradford were the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party MPs for Belfast East & Belfast South respectively from February 1974 and stayed in Vanguard following the 1976 party split, then merging the party into the Ulster Unionists in February 1978.
  8. In 1971 Paisley merged the Protestant Unionist Party into the new Democratic Unionist Party.
  9. Fitt was elected as a Republican Labour Party in 1966 and 1970, but later in the latter year he left the party and co-founded the Social Democratic and Labour Party, for which he sat as an MP until 1980, when he left that party and sat in the Commons as an Independent Socialist until his defeat in 1983.
  10. Little was elected as an official Ulster Unionist in the 1939 Down by-election. Prior to the 1945 general election he resigned from the party in protest at being subject to a reselection due to the retirement of Viscount Castlereagh, the other official Unionist MP, and held his seat as an Independent Ulster Unionist. He died in 1946.

    Ireland

All MPs are listed except those from the Ulster Unionist Party, the Nationalist Party, Sinn Féin, the Liberal Party, the Liberal Unionist Party and the Home Rule candidates.
ElectionMember of ParliamentConstituencyParty/Description
1918Robert Henry WoodsDublin UniversityIndependent Unionist
1918Thomas Henry BurnBelfast St Anne'sLabour Unionist
1918Samuel McGuffinBelfast ShankillLabour Unionist
1918Thompson DonaldBelfast VictoriaLabour Unionist
1914 Edward John GrahamTullamoreIndependent Nationalist
1914 William O'BrienCork CityAll-for-Ireland League
1913 John GuineyNorth CorkAll-for-Ireland League
1911 Tim HealyNorth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910William O'BrienCork CityAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910Maurice HealyCork CityAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910D. D. SheehanMid CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910Patrick GuineyNorth CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910Moreton FrewenNorth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910John WalshSouth CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910Eugene CreanSouth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910James GilhoolyWest CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Dec 1910John McKeanSouth MonaghanIndependent Nationalist
Dec 1910Laurence GinnellNorth WestmeathIndependent Nationalist
1910 Maurice HealyNorth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910William O'BrienCork CityAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910D. D. SheehanMid CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910Patrick GuineyNorth CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910William O'BrienNorth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910Eugene CreanSouth East CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910James GilhoolyWest CorkAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910Timothy Michael HealyNorth LouthAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910John O'DonnellSouth MayoAll-for-Ireland League
Jan 1910Eugene O'SullivanEast KerryIndependent Nationalist
Jan 1910John McKeanSouth MonaghanIndependent Nationalist
Jan 1910Laurence GinnellNorth WestmeathIndependent Nationalist
1909 Maurice HealyCork CityIndependent Nationalist
1906 D. D. SheehanMid CorkIndependent Labour
1906William O'BrienCork CityIndependent Nationalist
1906Timothy Michael HealyNorth LouthIndependent Nationalist
1906Thomas SloanBelfast SouthIndependent Unionist
1904 William O'BrienCork CityIndependent Nationalist
1903 Edward MitchellNorth FermanaghIndependent
1902 Thomas Henry SloanBelfast SouthIndependent Unionist
1902 James WoodDown EastIndependent
1900John CampbellSouth ArmaghIndependent Nationalist
1900Timothy Michael HealyNorth LouthIndependent Nationalist
1900Joseph NolanSouth LouthIndependent Nationalist
1900James Laurence CarewSouth MeathIndependent Nationalist
1900Patrick James KennedyNorth WestmeathIndependent Nationalist
1875 John MitchelTipperaryIndependent Nationalist
1875 John MitchelTipperaryIndependent Nationalist
1871 John MartinMeathIndependent Nationalist
1869 Jeremiah O'Donovan RossaTipperaryIndependent Nationalist
1857John EnnisAthloneIndependent Opposition
1857John MaguireDungarvanIndependent Opposition
1857Michael SullivanKilkenny CityIndependent Opposition
1857John Aloysius BlakeWaterford CityIndependent Opposition
1857Francis Macnamara CalcuttClareIndependent Opposition
1857John GreeneCounty KilkennyIndependent Opposition
1857John BradyCounty LeitrimIndependent Opposition
1857George Henry MooreMayoIndependent Opposition
1857Edward McEvoyMeathIndependent Opposition
1857Matthew CorballyMeathIndependent Opposition
1857Daniel O'DonoghueTipperaryIndependent Opposition
1857Richard LevingeWestmeathIndependent Opposition
1857Patrick MacMahonCounty WexfordIndependent Opposition
1855 Edward McEvoyMeathIndependent Opposition
1853 John Francis MaguireDungarvanIndependent Opposition
1853 Cornelius O'BrienClareIndependent Opposition
1847Thomas Chisholm AnsteyYoughalIrish Confederate
1847William Smith O'BrienCounty LimerickIrish Confederate