Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency)

Bristol South East
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1950 (1950)–1983 (1983)
Number of members	one

Bristol South East was a borough constituency in the city of Bristol. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, mainly from the Bristol East constituency, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

The last Member of Parliament to represent the constituency, Tony Benn, ran in the new Bristol East seat on this seat's abolition, but in an upset was defeated by the Conservative Jonathan Sayeed. He returned to the Commons at a by-election in 1984, representing Chesterfield.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Members of Parliament 3 Election results 3.1 Elections in the 1970s 3.2 Elections in the 1960s 3.3 Elections in the 1950s 4 References

Boundaries

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Sir Stafford Cripps	Labour
	1950 by-election	Tony Benn	Labour
	1961 (on petition)	Malcolm St Clair	Conservative
	1963 by-election	Tony Benn	Labour
1983		constituency abolished: see Bristol East

• Constituency abolished 1983, and absorbed into Bristol East constituency.

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	24,878	45.4
	Conservative	J. P. Godwin	22,988	41.9
	Liberal	N. W. H. Tatam	6,371	11.6
	National Front	J. D. Dowler	523	1.0
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	66	0.1
Majority			1,890	3.5
Turnout				78.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	25,978	49.1
	Conservative	J. P. Godwin	16,605	31.4
	Liberal	R. S. Wardle	8,987	17.0
	National Front	R. J. Bale	775	1.5
	World Middle Classes Party (WMPC)	R. R. Goding	457	0.9
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	P. Rowe	79	0.2
Majority			9,373	17.7
Turnout				76.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	26,540	47.0
	Conservative	N. G. Reece	18,628	33.0
	Liberal	D. R. Grayson	9,870	17.5
	National Front	R. J. Bale	757	1.3
	Social Democrat	J. H. Robertson	668	1.2
Majority			7,912	15.0
Turnout				81.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	29,176	55.4
	Conservative	N. G. Reece	23,488	44.6
Majority			5,688	10.8
Turnout				72.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

• The 1961 by-election was caused by Tony Benn inheriting a hereditary peerage thus making him ineligible to serve in parliament. Benn stood in the by-election anyway, but due to his ineligibility, the Conservative St Clair was declared the winner. St Clair promised to resign if Benn became eligible to take his seat again, which he did after renouncing his peerage in 1963. Benn was then elected in a further by-election.

General Election 1966: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	30,851	61.4
	Conservative	C. J. R. Pope	19,435	38.6
Majority			11,416	22.8
Turnout			50,286	76.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	29,117	60.2
	Conservative	R. S. O'Brien	19,282	39.8
Majority			9,835	20.4
Turnout				77.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Bristol South East by-election 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	20,313	79.7	+10.2
	National Fellowship Conservative	Edward Martell	4,834	19.0
	Independent	M. P. Lloyd	287	1.1
	Independent	G. Pearl	44	0.2
Majority			15,479	60.7	+21.7
Turnout			25,478	42.2	−14.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Bristol South East by-election 1961
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	23,275	69.5	+13.3
	Conservative	Malcolm St Clair	10,231	30.5	−13.3
Majority			13,044	39.0	+17.6
Turnout			33,506	56.7	−24.7

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	26,273	56.2
	Conservative	Malcolm St Clair	20,446	43.8
Majority			5,827	12.4
Turnout				81.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	25,257	59.5
	Conservative	R. G. Cooke	17,210	40.5
Majority			8,047	19.0
Turnout				77.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	30,811	65.0
	Conservative	J. L. Lindsay	16,555	35.0
Majority			14,256	30.0
Turnout				83.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Bristol South East by-election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	19,367	56.7	−5.9
	Conservative	J. L. Lindsay	12,018	35.2	+8.4
	Liberal	D. M. Gorsky	2,752	8.1	−1.4
Majority			7,349	21.5	−14.3
Turnout			34,137	61.1	−23.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.2

General Election 1950: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir R. Stafford Cripps	29,393	62.6
	Conservative	R. E. Simms	12,590	26.8
	Liberal	F. J. Goudge	4,463	9.5
	Communist	J. F. Webb	524	1.1
Majority			16,803	35.8
Turnout			46,970	85.0

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)