Brief shot of the Ashfield by-election results being announced in April 1977. Tim Smith unexpectedly won the seat for the Conservatives overturning a large Labour majority. Exterior shot of Smith's house at Sutton in Ashfield and him walking along the street (including a Downing Street in the town). Views inside a fish and chip shop with food being served. Bob Hall talks to Tim Smith in the chip shop about his by-election win. The area is strongly industrial with mining and hosiery as the main industries - and it was a surprise that a former student of Harrow and Oxford could end up representing what is thought to be a very working-class constituency. A distrust of the Labour government and its policy towards Europe is thought to have been a contributing factor towards Smith's victory.
Exterior shot of the Pretty Polly stockings factory. Views inside showing women hosiery workers. Smith talks to women in the factory about the problem of low-cost imports from both outside and inside the Common Market. Shots of Smith on the street meeting people in the local shopping precinct. View of terraced houses at Kirkby in Ashfield with Bentinck Colliery visible behind. Views of men drinking in the miners' welfare. At the Bentinck miners welfare club Smith talks to miners about coal productivity.
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