User:The C of E/dbe

Background
Derby had been represented by J.H. Thomas since 1910, held jointly with several other people as Derby was a two member constituency until 1950. In 1936, Thomas had been forced to resign from the government after being caught giving away secrets in the budget through coded messages. He was discovered after he shouted whilst golfing "tee up" to indicate a rise in tea tax. Thomas chose to step down from the House of Commons by being appointed as the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, an office of profit under the Crown which disqualifies MPs and vacates their seats.

Election
National Labour selected Archibald Church to follow on as the Derby candidate. Church had previously been an MP for Leyton East and Wandsworth Central. Philip Noel-Baker was chosen to represent Labour and had the support of Liberal former Prime Minister David Lloyd-George. The election was primarily fought on the issue of the British response to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. Church's campaign had been damaged by Lord Allen of Hurtwood stating that "the National Government is no longer fit to represent the nation". Noel-Baker won the election and went on to represent Derby and the successor constituency of Derby South until 1970.