Middlesex election affair

April 1769 Middlesex by-election

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Middlesex constituency
First party Second party   Candidate John Wilkes Henry Luttrell Party Radical Tory Popular vote 1,143 296 Percentage 79.2% 20.5%
MP before election Vacant Elected MP John Wilkes Radical

The Middlesex election affair was a political controversy in Great Britain concerning the election of a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Middlesex in 1769. After being expelled from Parliament in February 1769 following his election as MP for Middlesex in the 1768 general election, Radical journalist John Wilkes was repeatedly re-elected as MP for Middlesex in a series of three by-elections in February, March, and April 1769, with Parliament voiding each result. After the April by-election, the only one in which Wilkes's re-election had been contested, Parliament ordered the returns amended to transfer the seat to his defeated rival, Henry Luttrell. The events sparked a national controversy on Wilkes and the broader issue of democracy in Britain.