Croydon West (UK Parliament constituency)

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Croydon West Borough constituency
Created:	1950
Abolished:	1955
Type:	House of Commons

Croydon West was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

1 Politics and history of the constituency
2 Boundaries
3 Members of Parliament 1950 - 1955
4 Election results
5 References

[edit] Politics and history of the constituency

Croydon West was a short-lived seat created for the 1950 general election, in an effort to create three seats in the County Borough of Croydon from the previous two, also taking in areas from the Surrey East constituency to the south. The new Croydon West took in areas of the former Croydon North and Croydon South constituencies as well as Surrey East. It bordered Croydon East, Croydon North and Surrey East, as well as the constituency of Mitcham.

All three Croydon constituencies were abolished just five years later at the 1955 general election, re-creating Croydon South and creating the new Croydon North East and Croydon North West seats.

For all of its short history, Croydon West's Members of Parliament was Conservative Richard Thompson. It was contested in two elections: the 1950 general election and the 1951 general election. Prior to 1950, Croydon South had been held by Labour and most of the Labour voters were re-drawn into Croydon West, making it a marginal seat.

[edit] Boundaries

Croydon East covered the communities of Central Croydon, West Croydon, Selhurst, Waddon, and South Croydon.

[edit] Members of Parliament 1950 - 1955

Constituency created 1950
1950 — 1955: Richard Thompson, Conservative
Constituency abolished 1955

[edit] Election results

General Election 1951: Croydon West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	23,484	52.2	+4.9
	Labour	Gerald Gardiner	21,534	47.8	+2.7
Majority			1,950	4.3
Turnout			45,018
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

General Election 1950: Croydon West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	21,411	47.3	N/A
	Labour	David Rees-Williams	20,424	45.1	N/A
	Liberal	Russell Mayne	3,101	6.8	N/A
	Communist	R. Jarvie	336	0.7	N/A
Majority			987	2.2
Turnout			45,272		N/A
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	N/A