Wimbledon (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wimbledon Borough constituency |
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| Wimbledon shown within Greater London | |
| Created: | 1885 |
| MP: | Stephen Hammond |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Greater London |
| EP constituency: | London |
Wimbledon is a constituency covering the district of Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton in south-west London. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
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[edit] Boundaries
Wimbledon is a constituency name made world-famous by the presence of the UK Open Tennis Championships held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon Park, which is in the north of the constituency.
Largely because of this, and the affluence of Wimbledon village, which nestles around Wimbledon Common and Cannizaro Park, there is often a mistaken picture of Wimbledon as a safe Conservative area. But even during the 1980s when the Conservatives were winning big majorities nationally and locally, they were doing so mainly because the sizeable non-Tory vote was split fairly evenly between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Go down Wimbledon Hill and you find a very different Wimbledon to that of the Village and the Park; around the Broadway there is a much less affluent area of smaller terraced homes. These are Labour areas; but nevertheless it was a surprise when they gained the seat in 1997 and again in 2001, though Labour had once before represented the seat in a previous landslide victory in 1945.
Wimbledon has fairly unclear boundaries which cut across Wimbledon Common and split the Southfields grid in half. To the east the boundary roughly follows the edge of the Rivers Wandle and then Graveney down to Colliers Wood and Morden, and then zig zags along the edge of Mitcham and St Helier until reaching Raynes Park; the constituency's western boundary.
Wimbledon is bordered by the constituencies of:
[edit] Members of Parliament
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Henry Cosmo Orme Bonsor | Conservative | |
| 1900 | Charles Eric Hambro | Conservative | |
| 1907 | Henry Chaplin | Conservative | |
| 1916 | Sir Stuart Coats | Conservative | |
| 1918 | Sir Joseph Hood | Conservative | |
| 1924 | Sir John Power | Conservative | |
| 1945 | Anthony Palmer | Labour | |
| 1950 | Sir Cyril Black | Conservative | |
| 1970 | Sir Michael Havers | Conservative | |
| 1987 | Dr. Charles Goodson-Wickes | Conservative | |
| 1997 | Roger Casale | Labour | |
| 2005 | Stephen Hammond | Conservative | |
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Wimbledon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Stephen Hammond | 17,886 | 41.2 | +4.6 | |
| Labour | Roger Casale | 15,585 | 35.9 | -9.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Stephen Gee | 7,868 | 18.1 | +5.1 | |
| Green | Giles Barrow | 1,374 | 3.2 | +0.8 | |
| UK Independence | Andrew Mills | 408 | 0.9 | -0.1 | |
| Independent | Christopher Coverdale | 211 | 0.5 | +0.5 | |
| Tiger's Eye - the Party for Kids | Alastair Wilson | 50 | 0.1 | +0.1 | |
| Rainbow Dream Ticket | George Weiss | 22 | 0.1 | +0.1 | |
| Majority | 2,301 | 5.3 | |||
| Turnout | 43,404 | 68.1 | +3.8 | ||
| Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | 7.2 | |||
| General Election 2001: Wimbledon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Roger Casale | 18,806 | 45.7 | +2.9 | |
| Conservative | Stephen Hammond | 15,062 | 36.6 | 0.0 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Martin Pierce | 5,341 | 13.0 | -3.6 | |
| Green | Rajeev Thacker | 1,007 | 2.4 | +1.4 | |
| Christian Peoples | Roger Glencross | 479 | 1.2 | +1.2 | |
| UK Independence | Mariana Bell | 414 | 1.0 | +1.0 | |
| Majority | 3,744 | 9.1 | +2.9 | ||
| Turnout | 41,109 | 64.3 | -11.1 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1997: Wimbledon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Roger Casale | 20,674 | 42.8 | +19.5 | |
| Conservative | Charles Goodson-Wickes | 17,684 | 36.6 | -16.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Alison Willott | 8,014 | 16.6 | -4.7 | |
| Referendum Party | Abid Hameed | 993 | 2.1 | +2.1 | |
| Green | Rajeev Thacker | 474 | 1.0 | -0.7 | |
| ProLife Alliance | Sophie Davies | 346 | 0.7 | +0.7 | |
| Mongolian Barbeque Great Place to Party | Matthew Kirby | 112 | 0.2 | +0.2 | |
| Rainbow Dream Ticket | Graham Stacey | 47 | 0.1 | +0.1 | |
| Majority | 2,990 | 6.2 | |||
| Turnout | 48,344 | 75.4 | -2.69 | ||
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | 17.9 | |||
| General Election 1992: Wimbledon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Charles Goodson-Wickes | 26,331 | 53.0 | ||
| Labour | K Adams | 11,570 | 23.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Alison Willott | 10,569 | 21.3 | ||
| Green | V Flood | 860 | 1.7 | ||
| Natural Law | H Godfrey | 181 | 0.4 | ||
| Independent | G Hadley | 170 | 0.3 | ||
| Majority | 14,761 | 29.7 | |||
| Turnout | 61,917 | 80.2 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- (2003) Iain Dale: The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
- (1945) The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times.
- (1950) The Times House of Commons 1950. The Times.
- (1955) The Times House of Commons 1955. The Times.
