Talk:Burslem (UK Parliament constituency)

labeling William Allen
I usually defer to Craig on most matters, however, I question him on party labels as his publications used a house-style in preference to greater accuracy.

The Times tagged him as a Conservative (Unionist) which resulted in their subsequent publication House of Commons 1931 describing him as such. The Times is known to make mistakes in this area but I have not managed to find any correction. The Times was the source that The Liberal Year Book relied on and they published him as a Conservative (Unionist) in their publications following the election. Politicsresources.net relies on the same source to compile its database and follows that same description.

During the election campaign the Staffordshire Advertiser described him as a Constitutionalist candidate. Immediately after the election the Advertiser refined their description to National candidate. In their post election publication, the Constitutional Year Book, the Conservative Party described him as a National candidate.

Liberals in Parliament 1924-1994 by Rif Winfield is a publication that specialised in this area and Winfield states three 'non-party' candidates secured election as supporters of the National Government and that one of these, Allen, immediately took the Liberal National whip.

I trust the Staffordshire Advertiser reporting more than The Times, I trust the Conservative's description more than the Liberals and I trust the research undertaken by Winfield more than Craig when it comes down to the presentation of that research. Therefore I think Allen should appear as National in the 1931 election box and Liberal National in the MP listing. Graemp (talk) 14:33, 19 December 2016 (UTC)