Kensington and Chelsea (UK Parliament constituency)

Kensington and Chelsea
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Boundary of Kensington and Chelsea in Greater London for the 2005 general election.
County Greater London
1997 (1997)–2010 (2010)
Number of members One
Replaced by Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham
Created from Kensington

Kensington and Chelsea was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the safest Conservative seats in the United Kingdom, and since its creation in 1997 became a prestigious seat, with MP Alan Clark, the former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo and the former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind all holding the seat for the Conservatives. The seat was abolished for the 2010 election.

Contents

Boundaries

The constituency covered the central and southern portions of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, covering the centres of both Kensington and Chelsea. This covered the following wards of the borough:

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in North London, the Boundary Commission created two new constituencies based on the existing Kensington and Chelsea constituency, which were first contested at the 2010 election. The northern section (Earls Court, South Kensington, Kensington High Street and Holland Park) was combined with the southern section of the previous Regent's Park and Kensington North constituency (including Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill) to create a new Kensington constituency, whilst the southern part (Chelsea) was combined with the southern half of the former Hammersmith and Fulham constituency to create a new Chelsea and Fulham constituency.

History

The constituency was created for the 1997 general election. Notional calculations indicated that it would be one of the safest Conservative seats in the country and so the Conservative nomination was much sought. In the run-up to the 1997 election the nomination was initially won by Nicholas Scott, MP for the previous Chelsea constituency, but following allegations of alcoholism he was deselected. Tabloids reported that he was "found kissing the pavement".

The nomination was subsequently secured by Alan Clark, the former minister and diarist who was seeking to return to the Commons after standing down at the 1992 general election. Clark was elected, but died of brain cancer in 1999 after only two years in office. As a safe Conservative seat in London there was much speculation that former Defence Secretary and widely-predicted future Conservative leader Michael Portillo would seek to return to the Commons after losing the Enfield Southgate constituency in the 1997 election. Portillo was elected in the subsequent by-election and became Shadow Chancellor but his subsequent career stalled and he crashed out of the 2001 Conservative Party leadership election and withdrew to the backbenches. In 2003 he announced that he was going to retire from politics and seek a career in the media. Another former Cabinet Minister, Sir Malcolm Rifkind was nominated for the seat in Portillo's stead and elected in the 2005 general election.

In October 2007, amid speculation that then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown was about to call a snap general election, former Labour minister Tony Benn announced that he wanted to come out of retirement and return to the Commons, offering himself to the Kensington and Chelsea constituency Labour Party to challenge Malcolm Rifkind.[1][2] Ultimately, however, no election was held that year, and the Kensington and Chelsea seat was abolished.

Members of Parliament

Election Member [3] Party
1997 Alan Clark Conservative
1999 by-election Michael Portillo Conservative
2005 Malcolm Rifkind Conservative
2010 constituency abolished: see Kensington & Chelsea and Fulham

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Kensington and Chelsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 18,144 57.9 +3.5
Liberal Democrat Jennifer Kingsley 5,726 18.3 +2.5
Labour Catherine Atkinson 5,521 17.6 −5.6
Green Julia Stephenson 1,342 4.3 +0.2
UKIP Mildred Eiloart 395 1.3 −0.2
Independent Alfred Bovill 107 0.3 N/A
Alliance for Green Socialism Eddie Adams 101 0.3 N/A
Majority 12,418 39.6
Turnout 31,336 50.0 +6.7
Conservative hold Swing +0.5
General Election 2001: Kensington and Chelsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Portillo 15,270 54.5 +0.8
Labour Simon Hugh Frances Stanley 6,499 23.2 –4.8
Liberal Democrat Kishwer Falkner 4,416 15.8 +0.5
Green Julia Stephenson 1,158 4.1 n/a
UKIP Damian Hockney 416 1.5 n/a
ProLife Alliance Josephine Quintavalle 179 0.6 n/a
Majority 8,771 31.3
Turnout 28,038 43.3 –11.4
Conservative hold Swing +2.8

Elections in the 1990s

1999 by-election: Kensington and Chelsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Portillo 11,004 56.4 +2.8
Labour Robert Atkinson 4,298 22.0 –5.9
Liberal Democrat Robert Woodthorpe Browne 1,831 9.4 –5.9
Pro-Euro Conservative John Stevens 740 3.8
UKIP Damian Hockney 450 2.3 +0.9
Green Hugo Charlton 446 2.3
Democratic Party Earl of Burford 182 0.9
Legalise Cannabis Colin Paisley 141 0.7
Independent Dr. Michael Irwin 97 0.5
UK Pensioners Party Paul Oliver 75 0.4 –0.1
Independent Referendum Party Stephen Scott-Fawcett 57 0.3
Independent Louise Hodges 48 0.3
Natural Law Ged Valente 35 0.2 0.1
ProLife Alliance Lisa Lovebucket 26 0.1
Independent John Davies 24 0.1
Independent Peter May 24 0.1
Monster Raving Loony Alan Hope 20 0.1
Independent Tony Samuelson 15 0.1
Majority 6,706 34.4
Turnout 29.7
Conservative hold Swing +4.3
General Election 1997: Kensington and Chelsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alan Clark 19,887 53.6 –14.6
Labour Robert Atkinson 10,368 27.9 +11.3
Liberal Democrat Robert Woodthorpe Browne 5,668 15.3 +2.1
UKIP Andrew Ellis-Jones 540 1.3
Teddy Bear Alliance Edward Bear 218 0.6
United Kingdom Pensioners Party Paul Oliver 176 0.5
Natural Law Susan Hamza 122 0.3
Rainbow Dream Ticket Paul Sullivan 65 0.2
Independent Pete Parliament 44 0.1
Majority 9,519 25.7
Turnout 54.7
Conservative hold Swing -12.9

See also

References

  1. ^ "I want to be an MP again - Benn". BBC News online. 2007-10-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7028042.stm. Retrieved 2007-10-04. 
  2. ^ Fred Attewill (2007-10-04). "Benn: I want to return to parliament". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2183661,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)
Labour (37)
Conservative (28)
Liberal Democrats (7)