Newbury (UK Parliament constituency)

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Newbury County constituency
Newbury shown within Berkshire, and Berkshire shown within England
Created:	1885
MP:	Richard Benyon
Party:	Conservative
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Berkshire
EP constituency:	South East England

Newbury is a United Kingdom House of Commons constituency consisting of Newbury, Thatcham, Hungerford and a large part of the surrounding area of West Berkshire. To the east, parts of West Berkshire have been incorpoated into the Wokingham or Reading West constituencies. It is part of the South East region of England.

It is currently represented by Richard Benyon, Conservative, who won the seat in the 2005 general election from David Rendel of the Liberal Democrats.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 4.1 Elections in the 2000s 4.2 Elections in the 1990s 4.3 Elections in the 1980s 4.4 Elections in the 1970s 4.5 Elections in the 1960s 4.6 Elections in the 1950s 4.7 Elections in the 1940s 4.8 Elections in the 1930s 4.9 Elections in the 1920s 4.10 Elections in the 1910s 4.11 Elections in the 1900s 4.12 Elections in the 1890s 4.13 Elections in the 1880s 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Boundaries

As West Berkshire is a unitary authority and not a county, as is the rest of Berkshire, the Boundary Commission treats Berkshire as a whole, they are not constrained by the borders of West Berkshire.

The Boundary Commission's current recommendation is to move the Sulhamstead ward from the Newbury constituency to Wokingham. Currently the ward is split between the two.

The constituencies bordering Newbury (clockwise from north) are: Wantage, Henley, Reading West, Wokingham, Basingstoke, North West Hampshire, and Devizes.

[edit] History

Originally, Newbury was part of a larger constituency of Berkshire, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), increased to three in the Reform Act of 1832. In the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 Berkshire (excluding Reading) was divided into three parts, Northern (Abingdon), Southern (Newbury), and Eastern (Wokingham), returning one member each. Furthermore, there was included a borough constituency for Reading which also returned one MP.

For the European Parliament elections, between 1974 and 1984 Newbury was placed in the Upper Thames constituency, between 1984 and 1994 it was placed in the Wiltshire constituency, and then in the 1994 election it was in the Hampshire North and Oxford European Parliament constituency. Since 1994 Newbury has formed part of the South East England constituency elected with a form of proportional representation.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Over the course of the constituency's history there have been eleven different Members of Parliament. Of those, all but three have been Conservatives. The total period served by either a Liberal or Liberal Democrat MP is 17 years, Conservative MPs have served for the remaining 103 years.

An incumbent MP has been defeated just four times, in the elections of 1906, 1923, 1924, and finally in 2005.

The longest serving MP was Howard Clifton Brown who was MP for two periods, the first lasting one year and the second lasting twenty one years, making a total of twenty two years as an MP.

Year		Member	Party
	1885	William George Mount	Conservative
	1900	William Arthur Mount	Conservative
	1906	Frederick Coleridge Mackarness	Liberal
	1910	William Arthur Mount	Conservative
	1922	Howard Clifton Brown	Conservative
	1923	Innes Harold Stranger	Liberal
	1924	Howard Clifton Brown	Conservative
	1945	Anthony Hurd	Conservative
	1964	John Astor	Conservative
	1974	Michael McNair-Wilson	Conservative
	1992	Judith Chaplin	Conservative
	1993	David Rendel	Liberal Democrat
	2005	Richard Benyon	Conservative

[edit] Elections

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General election of 2005

In the UK general election of 2005 David Rendel's small majority was overturned by Richard Benyon for the Conservative Party. It was their 30th target seat.

Newbury's unemployment rate as of 2005 is lower than average at 3.2%, whilst it has 0.8% Jobseeker's Allowance claimants. House prices for West Berkshire are (according to the BBC) the 6th highest in the country.

Events in the campaign included the Conservative campaign doctoring a photo. A building which Richard Benyon was pictured standing in front of normally has a sign reading "Beynon Ltd." on it, however the photo showed the sign to be "Benyon". Conversely the local Liberal Democrats have been accused of wasting money - namely the Liberal Democrat controlled council spending £600,000 on imported Italian granite for the market square. Another issue which may have played a part in the election was fox hunting, which David Rendel opposed and voted to ban, as the Newbury constituency includes many rural areas. Another area that the Liberal Democrats focused on was the building of the local cinema (still not started as of 2006 due to legal wrangles), which they constantly mentioned throughout the campaigning of the Conservatives being against. In a surprise move, the Conservatives posted out a flyer 3 days before the election noting that they were actually for the cinema, and to "not fall for Lib Dem propaganda".

Two independent candidates stood in the election, Nick Cornish, who polled 409 votes is, as of 2005, a driving instructor and was able to advertise his campaign on his vehicles. Barrie Singleton stood for election to "highlight the bankruptcy of the Party Political system" [1]. He achieved 86 votes, and neither candidate retained their deposit. The Labour Party candidate, Oscar Van Nooijen, was one of the youngest in the country at 22. The Labour vote in the constituency went down 1%, lower than the average swing away from Labour in the election, but still the lowest percentage vote for Labour in any seat in the country.

After the election the pro-hunting campaign group Vote-OK claimed to have helped to oust David Rendel by boosting campaigning during the election, after the result was announced a hunting horn was blown in the declaration room which suggests that fox hunting may have at least played a part in his defeat.

General Election 2005: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	26,771	49.0	+5.5
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	23,311	42.6	−5.6
	Labour	Oscar Van Nooijen	3,239	5.9	−1.0
	UK Independence	David McMahon	857	1.6	+0.3
	Independent	Nick Cornish	409	0.7
	Independent	Barrie Singleton	86	0.2
Majority			3,460	6.3	N/A
Turnout			54,673	72.0	+4.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

General election of 2001

The 2001 general election saw David Rendel returned with a smaller majority of 2 415. Turnout was above average at 67.3%.

General Election 2001: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	24,507	48.2	−4.7
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	22,092	43.5	+5.7
	Labour	Steve Billcliffe	3,523	6.9	+1.4
	UK Independence	Delphine Gray-Fisk	685	1.4	+0.9
Majority			2,415	4.8	−10.3
Turnout			50,807	67.3	−9.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General election of 1997

In the 1997 general election, contary to many expectations, David Rendel managed to keep a hold of his seat.

General Election 1997: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	29,887	52.9	+15.8
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	21,370	37.8	-18.1
	Labour	Paul Hannon	3,107	5.5	-0.6
	Referendum Party	Ted Snook	992	1.8
	Green	Rachel Stark	644	1.1
	UK Independence	R Tubb	302	0.5
	Socialist Labour	Katrina Howse	174	0.3
Majority			8,517	15.1	−23.1
Turnout			56,476	76.3	+5.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Newbury by-election of 1993

Main article: Newbury by-election, 1993

The Newbury by-election of 1993 was held after Judith Chaplin died. It was won by David Rendel with an impressive swing of 27.8%. However, turnout was down on the previous year at 71.3%. The by-election in Newbury was the first in a string of by-election losses for the Conservative Party. It is also famed for having a very long ballot paper.

This table shows the top ten candidates in the by-election, for the full results see the main article.

By-election 1993: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	37,590	65.1	+27.8
	Conservative	Julian Davidson	15,535	26.9	−29.0
	Labour	Steve Billcliffe	1,151	2.0	−4.0
	Anti-Federalist League	Alan Sked	601	1.0
	Conservative Candidate	Andrew Bannon	561	1.0
	Commoners' Party	Stephen Martin	435	0.8
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	432	0.7
	Green	Jim Wallis	341	0.6	−0.2
	Referendum Party	Robin Marlar	338	0.6
	Conservative Rebel	John Browne	267	0.5
Majority			22,055	38.2
Turnout			57,399	71.3	−11.46
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

General election of 1992

In the 1992 general election the new Conservative Party candidate won the seat with an absolute majority. The turnout was 82.76%, higher than the nationwide average. Labour achieved their fifth worst result of the 1992 election in Newbury with only a 6.0% share of the vote.

General Election 1992: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judith Chaplin	37,135	55.9	−4.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	24 778	37.3	+5.6
	Labour	Richard J E Hall	3,962	6.0	−2.1
	Green	Jim Wallis	539	0.8
Majority			12,357	18.6	−9.8
Turnout			66,414	82.8	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General election of 1987

General Election 1987: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael McNair-Wilson	35,266	60.1	+0.8
	SDP-Liberal Alliance (Liberal)	David Rendel	18,608	31.7	−3.3
	Labour	Robert Stapley	4,765	8.1	+2.5
Majority			16,658	28.4	+4.1
Turnout			58,639	78.0	+2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1983

General Election 1983: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael McNair-Wilson	31,836	59.3	+6.2
	SDP-Liberal Alliance (Liberal)	Anthony Richards	18,798	35.0	−1.0
	Labour	Richard Knight	3,027	5.6	−5.2
Majority			13,038	24.3	+7.2
Turnout			53,661	75.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

General election of 1979

General Election 1979: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael McNair-Wilson	33,677	52.8	+10.4
	Liberal	Anthony Richards	23,388	36.7	−3.9
	Labour	Joan Ruddock	6,676	10.5	−6.2
Majority			10,289	16.1	+14.3
Turnout			63,741	79.3	+3.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of October 1974

After the 1970 general election, Newbury's boundary's were altered to reduce the size of the electorate which had grown to over 85,000. After the boundary changes, the electorate numbered around 72,000 people. This came into effect for the first general election in February 1974.

General Election October 1974: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael McNair-Wilson	23,499	42.4	+0.1
	Liberal	Dane Clouston	22,477	40.6	+0.3
	Labour	Celia Fletcher	9,390	16.7	−0.6
Majority			1,022	1.8	−0.2
Turnout			55,366	76.3	−4.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of February 1974

General Election February 1974: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael McNair-Wilson	24,620	42.4
	Liberal	Dane Clouston	23,419	40.3	+19.0
	Labour	Celia Fletcher	10,935	17.3
Majority			1,201	2.1
Turnout			58,974	80.8	+8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1970

General Election 1970: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Astor	30,380	48.8	+3.5
	Labour	Timothy Sims	18,647	29.9	−8.1
	Liberal	Dane Clouston	13,279	21.3	+4.6
Majority			11,733	18.8	+11.6
Turnout			55,392	72.6	−6.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1960s

General election of 1966

General Election 1966: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Astor	25,908	45.3	−0.1
	Labour	Ronald Spiller	21,762	38.0	+3.6
	Liberal	Stanley Clement Davies	9,571	16.7	−3.5
Majority			4,146	7.2	−3.7
Turnout			57,241	79.1	−0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1964

General Election 1964: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Astor	24,936	45.3	-14.6
	Labour	David Stoddart	18,943	34.4	+5.5
	Liberal	Denis Egginton	11,124	20.2
Majority			5,993	10.9	−9.1
Turnout			55,003	79.3	+0.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1950s

General election of 1959

General Election 1959: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Hurd	29,703	60.0	+2.0
	Labour	David Stoddart	19,787	40.0	−2.0
Majority			9,916	20.0	+4.0
Turnout			49,490	78.7	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1955

General Election 1955: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Hurd	29,703	58.1	−1.7
	Labour	Jon Evans	18,843	41.9	+1.7
Majority			7,237	16.0	−3.6
Turnout			48,546	78.3	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1951

General Election 1951: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Hurd	20,102	59.8	+7.0
	Labour	Colin Jackson	13,507	40.2	+5.5
Majority			6,595	19.6	+1.5
Turnout			33,609	78.7	−2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1950

General Election 1950: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Hurd	18,150	52.8
	Labour	Colin Jackson	11,914	34.7
	Liberal	E. Burrows	4,284	12.5
Majority			6,236	18.1
Turnout			34,348	81.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1940s

General election of 1945

General Election 1945: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Hurd	24,463	52.4	−20.6
	Labour	Mrs I. Brook	15,754	33.7	+6.7
	Liberal	E. D. T. Vane	6,052	13.0	+13.0
	Common Wealth	George Suggett	424	0.9	+0.9
Majority			8,709	18.7	−27.3
Turnout			46,693	65.4	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1930s

General election of 1935

General Election 1935: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Howard Clifton Brown	24,642	73.0
	Labour	Richard Russell	9,125	27.0
Majority			15,517	46.0
Turnout			33,767	65.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1931

In the 1931 general election, Howard Clifton Brown of the Conservative Party was re-elected unopposed.

[edit] Elections in the 1920s

General election of 1929

General Election 1929: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Howard Clifton Brown	17,800	51.0	−4.9
	Liberal	E. H. Brooks	13,604	39.0	−0.5
	Labour	F. M. Jacques	3,471	10.0	+5.4
Majority			4,196	12.0	−4.4
Turnout			34,875	78.3	−2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1924

General Election 1924: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Howard Clifton Brown	14,759	55.90	+6
	Liberal	Innes Harold Stranger	10,444	39.50	−10.6
	Labour	F. M. Jacques	1,219	4.60	+4.60
Majority			4,315	16.40	N/A
Turnout			26,422	80.90	+9.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General election of 1923

General Election 1923: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Innes Harold Stranger	11,226	50.1	+7.5
	Conservative	Howard Clifton Brown	11,185	49.9	−7.5
Majority			41	0.2	N/A
Turnout			22,411	71.3	+1.6
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.5

General election of 1922

General Election 1922: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Howard Clifton Brown	12,322	57.4
	Liberal	Innes Harold Stranger	9,144	42.6
Majority			3,178	14.8
Turnout			21,466	69.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Newbury by-election of 1922

The by-election of June 10, 1922 saw Howard Clifton Brown returned as Newbury's MP unopposed.

[edit] Elections in the 1910s

General election of 1918

The 1918 general election saw William Arthur Mount returned unopposed.

General election of December 1910

General Election December 1910: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Arthur Mount	6,485	60.3	+0.3
	Liberal	Captain Lisle March-Phillipps	4,278	39.7	−0.3
Majority			2,207	20.5	+0.5
Turnout			10,763	82.4	&minus8.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of January 1910

General Election January 1910: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Arthur Mount	7,081	60.0	+14.9
	Liberal	Thomas Hedderwick	4,723	40.0	−14.9
Majority			2,358	20.0	N/A
Turnout			11,804	90.4	+2.9
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1900s

General election of 1906

In the 1906 general election the Liberal candidate, Frederick Mackarness won with a majority of 402 votes. Nationally there was also a large swing to the Liberal party, with the Conservatives losing 246 seats in total.

General Election 1906: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Mackarness	5,338	52.0	+8.7
	Conservative	William Arthur Mount	4,936	48.0	−8.7
Majority			402	3.9	N/A
Turnout			10,274	87.5
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.62

General election of 1900

In the 1900 general election William Arthur Mount (Conservative) was returned as Newbury's MP unopposed.

[edit] Elections in the 1890s

General election of 1895

General Election 1895: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William George Mount	4,936	56.7	+2.9
	Liberal	Sir John Swinburne	3,776	43.3	−2.9
Majority			1,160	13.3	+5.7
Turnout			8,712
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election of 1892

General Election 1892: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William George Mount	4,588	53.8	+2.7
	Liberal	T. Stevens	3,938	46.2	−2.7
Majority			650	7.6	+5.4
Turnout			8,526
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.7

[edit] Elections in the 1880s

General election of 1886

In the general election of 1886 William George Mount (Conservative) was returned as Newbury's MP unopposed.

General election of 1885

In the first general election in the Newbury constituency William George Mount for the Conservative Party won with a small majority of 202 votes over his Liberal opponent, G. Palmer.

General Election 1885: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William George Mount	4,631	51.1
	Liberal	G. Palmer	4,429	48.9
Majority			202	2.2
Turnout			9,060

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom

[edit] References

• Newbury election history. Newbury. Retrieved on April 12, 2005.
• Parliament.uk: 1992 elections. Highest and lowest shares of the vote by party. Retrieved on April 12, 2005.
• Newbury 1993. Candidate names. Retrieved on April 17, 2005.
• Election data from 1832. Newbury constituency 1959 onwards. Retrieved on April 23, 2005.
• Boundary Commission for England. Boundary changes. Retrieved on April 23, 2005.
• Leigh Rayment. List of Parliamentary constituencies. 'N' constituencies. Retrieved on June 2, 2005.
• David Boothroyd. Smallest majorities at elections since 1918. 1923 Majority. Retrieved on June 3, 2005.
• BBC: Newbury constituency (2001)
• McCalmont, Frederick Haynes, Stenton Michael, Vincent, John Russell. McCalmont's parliamentary poll book: British election results. (ISBN 0-85527-000-4)
• F. W. S. Craig. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973. (ISBN 0-900178-07-8)
• F. W. S. Craig. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949. (ISBN 0-900178-01-9)

[edit] External links

• BBC News: Tories win Newbury from Lib Dems
• Independent story on the 2005 campaign
• West Berkshire Conservative Association
• David Rendel's Official Homepage
• Labour South East
• http://www.election-maps.co.uk
• Map of old Berkshire Constituency

Constituencies in South East England
Conservative	Aldershot | Arundel and South Downs | Ashford | Aylesbury | Banbury | Basingstoke | Beaconsfield | Bexhill and Battle | Bognor Regis and Littlehampton | Bracknell | Buckingham | Canterbury | Chesham and Amersham | Chichester | East Hampshire | East Surrey | East Worthing and Shoreham | Eastbourne | Epsom and Ewell | Esher and Walton | Fareham | Faversham and Mid Kent | Folkestone and Hythe | Gosport | Gravesham | Guildford | Havant | Henley | Horsham | Isle of Wight | Maidenhead | Maidstone and The Weald | Mid Sussex | Mole Valley | New Forest East | New Forest West | Newbury | North East Hampshire | North East Milton Keynes | North Thanet | North West Hampshire | Reading East | Reigate | Runnymede and Weybridge | Sevenoaks | South West Surrey | Spelthorne | Surrey Heath | Tonbridge and Malling | Tunbridge Wells | Wantage | Wealden | Windsor | Witney | Woking | Wokingham | Worthing West | Wycombe
Labour	Brighton Kemptown | Brighton Pavilion | Chatham and Aylesford | Crawley | Dartford | Dover | Gillingham | Hastings and Rye | Hove | Medway | Milton Keynes South West | Oxford East | Portsmouth North | Reading West | Sittingbourne and Sheppey | Slough | Southampton Itchen | Southampton Test | South Thanet
Liberal Democrat	Eastleigh | Lewes | Oxford West and Abingdon | Portsmouth South | Romsey | Winchester
South East European constituency: Conservative (4) | UKIP (2) | Liberal Democrats (2) | Labour (1) | Green (1)