The Barking by-election was held on 9 June 1994, following the death of Labour Party Member of Parliament for Barking Jo Richardson. Richardson had represented the seat since the February 1974 general election, following Tom Driberg. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Steve Churchman, had taken little more than a tenth of the votes cast in 1992, continuing a downward track since 1983. A new candidate, Garry White, at 21 the youngest parliamentary by-election candidate chosen by a British political party since universal suffrage, was chosen for the by-election.