 Tiptaft proclaimed himself as supporter of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, prompting Churchill to send a telegram to Alderman Roberts denying that Tiptaft was a supporter of his.Labour took ten of Birmingham's 13 seats, having won none in 1935, but Handsworth was one of the three Birmingham seats retained by the Conservatives.However Roberts's majority was only 3.6% of the votes, compared with the 46% won by Locker-Lampson in a two-way contest in 1935.