The lesson of West Derby reinforces rather remarkably the lesson
of Mid-Bucks. In the latter division the Con- servative candidate won so easily that his figures are imma- terial ; the Liberal and Labour candidates combined polled almost exactly the same total as at the previous election, but the Liberal vote dropped by nearly 3,000 and the Labour vote rose by nearly 3,000. In West Derby the victorious Conservative's poll was almost precisely the same as at the last contested election ; the Liberals and Labour combined totalled some 730 more than at that election, but here again the Liberal vote fell by over 6,000 and the Labour rose by over 7,000. These are both rural constituencies and the industrial centres—Stafford, for example, where the result will be announced too late for record here—may tell a different story. But the claim that the nation is sick of the Government carries little conviction so far.
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