Wimbledon (UK Parliament constituency)

Wimbledon
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wimbledon in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	65,936 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Stephen Hammond (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	East Surrey
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Wimbledon is one of two parliamentary constituencies in the London Borough of Merton in south-west London. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency is centred on the district of Wimbledon. Since 2005 it has been represented by Conservative MP Stephen Hammond.^[2]

Contents 1 Constituency Profile 2 History 3 Boundaries 4 Members of Parliament 5 Election results 6 See also 7 References

Constituency Profile

Wimbledon was one of Labour's most unlikely gains in the 1997 election, though it has swung a long way back to the Conservatives since long-standing Wimbledon village councillor Stephen Hammond won it back in 2005. At the 2010 Election, Labour slumped to third place and Hammond is now able to command a substantial majority against divided opposition.

The seat is comfortably suburban and the village in particular is full of large, expensive houses and open green spaces, though the area around Merton Abbey and South Wimbledon is more downmarket.

The All-England lawn tennis club where the Championships are played is located at the northern edge of the seat, by Wimbledon Park, and the decidedly upmarket setting seems unpromising territory for any party other than the Conservatives - as has been the case for much of the seat's life.

Wimbledon includes the southern terminus of the District Line, and it is possible to travel continuously for 20 stops through Conservative-held constituencies before reaching Tower Hill.

History

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election from the north-eastern part of the former East Surrey constituency that was abolished and broken up by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. The constituency covered a much larger area than it does today and was reduced in 1918 to create the Mitcham constituency and in 1950 to create the Merton and Morden constituency (both subsequently merged to create the Mitcham and Morden constituency).

Boundaries

When established in 1885 the constituency included the parishes of Wimbledon, Merton, Mitcham and Morden - equivalent today to the whole of the London Borough of Merton.

The constituency now occupies the northern and western parts of the borough, corresponding approximately to the borough wards of Abbey, Cannon Hill, Dundonald, Hillside, Merton Park, Raynes Park, Trinty, Village, West Barnes and Wimbledon Park.

The north and western boundaries are those of the borough. The eastern boundary follows the borough boundary with the London Borough of Wandsworth along the River Wandle east of Summerstown, then along the western edge of Lambeth Cemetery. It then heads south following the Wandle through Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon to cross Morden Hall Park. The boundary then leaves the Wandle to turn west through Morden town centre, then along the London Road (A24) before crossing Morden Park. The boundary then turns north-west towards Cannon Hill Common and then west to pass north of Morden Cemetery to reach the western borough boundary near Motspur Park station.

Wimbledon is bordered by the constituencies of:

• Mitcham & Morden
• Putney
• Tooting
• Richmond Park
• Kingston & Surbiton

Members of Parliament

The constituency covers the more affluent north and west of the borough and, since its establishment, has generally been represented by Conservative MPs, though there have been two periods when the Labour party has held the seat.

Election		Member [3]	Party
	1885	Cosmo Bonsor	Conservative
	1900	Charles Eric Hambro	Conservative
	1907 by-election	Henry Chaplin	Conservative
	1916 by-election	Sir Stuart Coats	Conservative
	1918	Sir Joseph Hood	Conservative
	1924	Sir John Power	Conservative
	1945	Arthur 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

Election results

General Election 2010: Wimbledon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Hammond	23,257	49.1	+7.7
	Liberal Democrat	Shas Sheehan	11,849	25.0	+6.8
	Labour	Andrew Judge	10,550	22.3	-13.4
	UKIP	Mark McAleer	914	1.9	+1.0
	Green	Rajeev Thacker	590	1.2	-1.9
	Christian	David Martin	235	0.5	+0.5
Majority			11,408	24.1
Turnout			47,395	73.0	+5.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 Democrat	Stephen Gee	7,868	18.1	+5.1
	Green	Giles Barrow	1,374	3.2	+0.8
	UKIP	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 Democrat	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
	UKIP	Mariana Bell	414	1.0	+1.0
Majority			3,744	9.1	+2.9
Turnout			41,109	64.3	–11.1
	Labour hold		Swing	1.5

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 Democrat	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	–2.7
	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 Democrat	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

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References

• Iain Dale, ed (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X. 
• The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times. 1945. 
• The Times House of Commons 1950. The Times. 1950. 
• The Times House of Commons 1955. The Times. 1955. 

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