Newbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Newbury
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Newbury in Berkshire.
Location of Berkshire within England.
County	Berkshire
Electorate	77,898 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Newbury, Thatcham, Hungerford
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Richard Benyon (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Berkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Newbury is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Richard Benyon, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Profile

The constituency consists of most of West Berkshire and includes Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford. To the east, the rest of West Berkshire is incorporated into the Wokingham and Reading West constituencies.^{[n 3]}

Since its creation it has been a Conservative or Liberal/Liberal Democrat seat, sometimes seemingly marginal and sometimes seen as a safe seat, with a tendency towards being Conservative.^{[n 4]} West Berkshire which is similar to its neighbours has a rather thriving economy with the headquarters of the communications company Vodafone that has created a cluster of around 80 mobile phone related businesses in Newbury,^[2] while the Lambourn area is the second most important centre for the racehorse industry in Great Britain, employing over 800 people directly, and producing an annual income of £20 million.^[3]

West Berkshire is also home to Atomic Weapons Establishment, near Aldermaston, Wolseley plc, Bayer and Pepsico. There are high proportions of detached and semi-detached housing, and lower than average dependency on social housing.^[4][5] The seat includes the former family home of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge in Bucklebury.

Neighbouring constituencies

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

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Newbury and Wokingham, the Rural Districts of Hungerford and Newbury, and part of the Rural Districts of Bradfield and Wokingham.

1950-1955: The Municipal Borough of Newbury, and the Rural Districts of Bradfield, Hungerford, and Newbury.

1955-1974: The Municipal Borough of Newbury, the Rural Districts of Bradfield, Hungerford, and Newbury, and the County Borough of Reading wards of Norcot and Tilehurst.

1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Newbury, and the Rural Districts of Bradfield, Hungerford, and Newbury.

2010-present: The District of West Berkshire wards of Aldermaston, Basildon, Bucklebury, Chieveley, Clay Hill, Cold Ash, Compton, Downlands, Falkland, Greenham, Hungerford, Kintbury, Lambourn Valley, Northcroft, St Johns, Speen, Thatcham Central, Thatcham North, Thatcham South and Crookham, Thatcham West, and Victoria.

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 was divided into three county constituencies, Northern (Abingdon), Southern (Newbury), and Eastern (Wokingham), returning one member each and one borough constituency, Reading and two members per constituency ceased, as with most of the country.

The constituency in 2010 produced the third lowest share of the vote for Labour (4.3%), one of five lost deposits for Labour nationally), below the 5% of the vote deposit threshold.^{[6][n 5]}

Members of Parliament

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

Election		Member[7]	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
	Feb 1974	Michael McNair-Wilson	Conservative
	1992	Judith Chaplin	Conservative
	1993 by-election	David Rendel	Liberal Democrat
	2005	Richard Benyon	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Newbury[8][9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	34,973	61.0	+4.6
	Liberal Democrat	Judith Bunting	8,605	15.0	-20.5
	UKIP	Catherine Anderson	6,195	10.8	+8.3
	Labour	Jonny Roberts	4,837	8.4	+4.2
	Green	Paul Field	2,324	4.1	+3.2
	Apolitical Democrats	Peter Norman	228	0.4	+0.2
	Independent	Barrie Singleton	85	0.1
	Patriotic Socialist Party	Andrew Stott	53	0.1
Majority			26,368	46.0	+25.1
Turnout			57,300	72.1	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+12.6

In 2015, the Apolitical Democrats changed their candidate from David Yates to Peter Norman.^[11]

General Election 2010: Newbury[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	33,057	56.4	+7.4
	Liberal Democrat	David Rendel	20,809	35.5	−7.1
	Labour	Hannah Cooper	2,505	4.3	−1.7
	UKIP	David Black	1,475	2.5	+0.9
	Green	Adrian Hollister	490	0.8	+0.8
	Independent	Brian Burgess	158	0.3	+0.3
	Apolitical Democrat	David Yates	95	0.2	+0.2
Majority			12,248	20.9	+14.6
Turnout			58,589	70.2	−2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.3

Elections in the 2000s

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.

General Election 2005: Newbury[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Benyon	26,771	49.0	+5.5
	Liberal Democrat	David Rendel	23,311	42.6	−5.6
	Labour	Oscar Van Nooijen	3,239	5.9	−1.0
	UKIP	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 Democrat		Swing

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[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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
	UKIP	Delphine Gray-Fisk	685	1.4	+0.9
Majority			2,415	4.8	−10.3
Turnout			50,807	67.3	−9.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

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

General Election 1997: Newbury[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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	Ted Snook	992	1.8
	Green	Rachel Stark	644	1.1
	UKIP	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 Democrat hold		Swing

The Newbury by-election of 1993 was held after Judith Chaplin died. It was won by David Rendel with an impressive swing of 28.4%. 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.

By-election 1993: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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
	Corrective Party	Lindi St Clair	170	0.3
	Maastricht Referendum for Britain	Bill Board	84	0.1
	Natural Law	Michael Grenville	60	0.1
	People & Pensioners Party	Johnathon Day	49	0.1
	21st Century Independent Foresters	Colin Palmer	40	0.1
	Defence of Children's Humanity Bosnia	Mladen Grbin	33	0.1
	Social Democratic	Alan Page	33	0.1
	Communist (PCC)	Anne Murphy	32	0.1
	Give the royal billions to schools	Michael Stone	21	0.1
Majority			22,055	38.2
Turnout			57,399	71.3	−11.46
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing	28.4

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[16][17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judith Chaplin	37,135	55.9	−4.2
	Liberal Democrat	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	N/A
Majority			12,357	18.6	−9.8
Turnout			66,414	82.8	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.9

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Newbury[18]
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 1983: Newbury[19]
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

Elections in the 1970s

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

After the 1970 general election, Newbury's boundaries 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 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 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

Elections in the 1960s

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 1964: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Astor	24,936	45.3	−14.6
	Labour	David Leonard 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

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Richard Hurd	29,703	60.0	+2.0
	Labour	David Leonard 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 1955: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Richard 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 1951: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Richard 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 1950: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Richard Hurd	18,150	52.8
	Labour	Colin Jackson	11,914	34.7
	Liberal	Edwin Burrows	4,284	12.5
Majority			6,236	18.1
Turnout			34,348	81.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Richard Hurd	24,463	52.4	−20.6
	Labour	Mrs Iris Brook	15,754	33.7	+6.7
	Liberal	Eric Digby Tempest Vane	6,052	13.0	N/A
	Common Wealth	George Booth Suggett	424	0.9	N/A
Majority			8,709	18.7	−27.3
Turnout			46,693	65.4	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

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

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

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Howard Clifton Brown	17,800	51.0	−4.9
	Liberal	E. Harold Brooks	13,604	39.0	−0.5
	Labour	Frank Mortimer Jacques	3,471	10.0	+5.4
Majority			4,196	12.0	−4.4
Turnout			34,875	78.3	−2.6
	Unionist hold		Swing	-2.2

General Election 1924: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Howard Clifton Brown	14,759	55.9	+6.0
	Liberal	Innes Harold Stranger	10,444	39.5	−10.6
	Labour	Frank Mortimer Jacques	1,219	4.6	N/A
Majority			4,315	16.4	N/A
Turnout			26,422	80.9	+9.6
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1923: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Innes Harold Stranger	11,226	50.1	+7.5
	Unionist	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 Unionist		Swing	+7.5

General Election 1922: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	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
	Unionist hold		Swing

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

Elections in the 1910s

The 1918 general election saw William Arthur Mount returned unopposed.

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	-8.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election January 1910: Newbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Arthur Mount	7,081	60.0	+14.9
	Liberal	Thomas Charles Hunter 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

Elections in the 1900s

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

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

Elections in the 1890s

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 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

Elections in the 1880s

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

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	George Palmer	4,429	48.9
Majority			202	2.2
Turnout			9,060

Neighbouring constituencies

Constituencies bordering Newbury

		Wantage
	Wantage Devizes		Henley Reading West Wokingham
		Newbury
		Hampshire North West

See also

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

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• "Newbury election history". Newbury. Retrieved 12 April 2005. 
• "Parliament.uk: 1992 elections" (PDF). Highest and lowest shares of the vote by party. Retrieved 12 April 2005. 
• "Newbury 1993". Candidate names. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2005. 
• "Election data from 1832". Newbury constituency 1959 onwards. Retrieved 23 April 2005. 
• "Boundary Commission for England". Boundary changes. Archived from the original on 12 March 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2005. 
• David Boothroyd. "Smallest majorities at elections since 1918". 1923 Majority. Retrieved 3 June 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)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newbury (UK Parliament constituency).

• 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

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