The 1924 Westminster Abbey by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 19 March 1924 for the British House of Commons constituency of Westminster Abbey in London. It was notable for the challenge of Winston Churchill to the party system. Vacancy The seat had become vacant when the Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) John Nicholson died on 21 February 1924. Nicholson had held the seat since a 1921 by-election. Candidates Winston Churchill quickly announced his candidature. He had lost his seat of Dundee in the 1922 general election as a National Liberal follower of David Lloyd George. In 1923 following reconciliation between Lloyd George and H. H. Asquith at the 1923 general election he had stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate in Leicester West. He favoured the restoration of a coalition between Liberals and Unionists. He stood in the Westminster Abbey by-election as a "Constitutionalist" and received unofficial Unionist support. At first it seemed Churchill would be officially supported by the Unionists' local organisation the Westminster Abbey Constitutional Association, but they decided to nominate their own candidate, Otho Nicholson, the nephew of the former member. The Labour Party selected Fenner Brockway. Churchill had hoped that his candidature might have been endorsed by the Abbey Liberal Association or have received the backing of Liberal leader Asquith, but the local Liberals adopted James Scott Duckers. In fact, Abbey Liberals stated that Scott Duckers name would only go forward if Churchill was a candidate. Churchill thus found his candidature opposed by candidates of all three main political parties. Party prospects Unionist The official Unionist candidate had been elected after each of the 4 previous contests since the seat was created in 1918. Two of those contest were unopposed returns. Of the other two, the 1922 contests saw them poll a massive 75.6% of the vote. In the fourth contest, the 1921 by-election, the Unionist vote was split but the official Unionist still managed to poll 43.6%. Labour Only once before had a Labour candidate stood, in the 1922 elections when they polled 13.6 percent. In that election their candidate had to compete for the anti-Unionist vote with an Independent candidate with Liberal leanings. A more active Labour party campaign might hope to poll much better but without the expectation of winning. Liberal The only election the Liberals had contested was the 1921 by-election when their candidate had garnered all the anti-Unionist vote in polling