Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)

UK constituency infobox alt
Name = Beckenham


Type = Borough
Entity = Greater London
DivisionType = County
Division = Greater London
Year = 1950
MP = Jacqui Lait
Party = Conservative
EP = London

Beckenham is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Beckenham parliamentary constituency covers the north-west part of the London Borough of Bromley.

The northernmost third of the constituency, around Penge and Crystal Palace, can be categorised as being similar in character to neighbouring Lewisham and North Croydon, having an inner-city feel about it and many ethnic minority residents. This part of the constituency votes strongly for the Liberal Democrats, with Labour also competitive.

The remaining two thirds of the constituency consists of leafy Bromley suburbia, also taking in the town of Beckenham itself. This area votes 60-70% for the Conservatives and is the reason why the constituency has been safely Conservative even in disastrous years such as 1997 and 2001.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England had made revisions to the existing Beckenham constituency.

The addition, from the Bromley and Chislehurst seat, of the Bromley Common & Keston ward, as well as that part of the Hayes & Coney Hall ward that lies outside the constituency, and the removal of the Penge and Cator, Clockhouse and Crystal Palace wards, are predicted to make Beckenham the safest Conservative seat in the country.

The electoral wards used in the creation of the modified seat are;

*Bromley Common and Keston, Copers Cope, Hayes and Coney Hall, Kelsey and Eden Park, Shortlands and West Wickham.

History

Beckenham has never elected anyone other than a Conservative as its MP in modern times. It is a safe Conservative seat because there is a solid core of Conservative voters in the suburban parts of the constituency and the opposition is somewhat divided between Labour and Lib Dem. Unlike neighbouring Orpington constituency, a strong Lib Dem challenge could never succeed by squeezing out Labour votes here because of the presence of so many traditional Labour voters in Penge, which are quite inner-London in character.

The closest the Conservatives have ever come to losing this seat was at a by-election in November 1997, at the height of Tony Blair's 'honeymoon period' as Prime Minister, following the resignation of the previous MP Piers Merchant in a sex scandal.

Even then, the former MP for Hastings Jacqui Lait managed to hold on to the seat for the Conservatives by just over 1,000 votes.

Piers Merchant was MP for Beckenham between 1992 and his resignation in 1997 and was generally regarded as a good constituency MP. He is now an active member of UKIP.

Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham was Sir Philip Goodhart, who was soon discovered by Mrs Thatcher to be a 'wet' and consequently his career as a junior minister came to a quick end early in her premiership. Goodhart is best known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee, and for his brother Charles, who was a famous economics professor at LSE and sat for some time on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.

Before Sir Philip Goodhart, the former Conservative Chief Whip Patrick Buchan-Hepburn represented Beckenham in Parliament.

Members of Parliament

* 1950 – 1957: Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, Conservative
* 1957 – 1992: Philip Goodhart, Conservative
* 1992 – 1997: Piers Merchant, Conservative
* 1997 – "present": Jacqui Lait, Conservative

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Jacqui Lait
votes = 22,183
percentage = 45.3
change = 0.0
Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Liam Curran
votes = 13,782
percentage = 28.1
change = –6.3
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Jef Foulger
votes = 10,862
percentage = 22.2
change = +6.2
Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = James Cartwright
votes = 1,301
percentage = 2.7
change = +1.0
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Roderick Reed
votes = 836
percentage = 1.7
change = +1.7
Election box majority
votes = 8,401
percentage = 17.2
change =
Election box turnout
votes = 48,964
percentage = 65.5
change = +2.9
Election box hold with party link
winner =Conservative Party (UK)
swing =+3.1

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Jacqui Lait
votes = 20,618
percentage = 45.3
change = +2.8
Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Richard Watts
votes = 15,659
percentage = 34.4
change = +1.0
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Alexander Feakes
votes = 7,308
percentage = 16.0
change = –2.1
Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = Karen Moran
votes = 961
percentage = 2.1
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Christopher Pratt
votes = 782
percentage = 1.7
change = +0.8
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
candidate = Riff Winfield
votes = 234
percentage = 0.5
change = –0.8
Election box majority
votes = 4,959
percentage = 10.9
change =
Election box turnout
votes = 45,562
percentage = 62.6
change = –11.7
Election box hold with party link
winner = Conservative Party (UK)
swing =+0.9

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Jacqui Lait
votes = 13,162
percentage = 41.3
change = –1.2
Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Robert Hughes
votes = 11,935
percentage = 37.4
change = +4.0
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Rosemary Vetterlein
votes = 5,864
percentage = 18.4
change = +0.2
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
candidate = Phil Rimmer
votes = 330
percentage = 1.0
change = –0.3
Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = John McAuley
votes = 267
percentage = 0.8
change = +0.1
Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Leonard Mead
votes = 237
percentage = 0.8
change = –2.4
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = John Campion
votes = 69
percentage = 0.2
change = "N/A"
Election box candidate with party link
party = Natural Law Party
candidate = John Small
votes = 44
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"
Election box majority
votes = 1,227
percentage =
change =
Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 43.1
change = –31.5
Election box hold with party link
winner = Conservative Party (UK)
swing = –2.6

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Piers Merchant
votes = 23,084
percentage = 42.5
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Robert Hughes
votes = 18,131
percentage = 33.4
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Rosemary Vetterlein
votes = 9,858
percentage = 18.1
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Leonard Mead
votes = 1,663
percentage = 3.1
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
candidate = Phil Rimmer
votes = 720
percentage = 1.3
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Christopher Pratt
votes = 506
percentage = 0.9
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = John McAuley
votes = 388
percentage = 0.7
change =
Election box majority
votes = 4,953
percentage =
change =
Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 74.6
change =
Election box hold with party link
winner = Conservative Party (UK)
swing =

See also

* List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London


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