- South Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)
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Coordinates: 50°34′00″N 2°27′15″W / 50.5666°N 2.4541°W
South Dorset Borough constituency for the House of Commons 
Boundary of South Dorset in Dorset.
Location of Dorset within England.County Dorset Electorate 73,499 (December 2010)[1] Current constituency Created 1885 Member of Parliament Richard Drax (Conservative) Number of members One Overlaps European Parliament constituency South West England South Dorset is a county 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.
Contents
Boundaries
The constituency covers a similar area to the borough of Weymouth and Portland and the Purbeck district in Dorset. Weymouth is one of the few large towns in Dorset, but Purbeck is largely rural. The constituency includes Bovington army camp.
History
In the 1997 election, this seat was won by the Conservatives by a margin of only 77 votes, one of the smallest margins in the UK. The constituency went on to be won by Labour from the Conservatives in the 2001 election, but with Labour's smallest majority in England, at 153. In the 2005 election this constituency was one of the few in which Labour significantly increased their majority. Labour may have been helped by the fact that Tony Blair started his official campaign in this seat. A more significant factor perhaps was that Conservative candidate Ed Matts was found to have doctored an image which was part of his campaign material. Matts changed a photo of a protest against the deportation of a South Dorset resident, so that it appeared to be a protest against "uncontrolled immigration". In both elections, the left-wing singer-songwriter Billy Bragg ran an anti-Conservative tactical voting campaign in Dorset constituencies.[citation needed]
Members of Parliament
Election Member[2] Party 1885 Henry Parkman Sturgis Liberal 1886 Charles Joseph Theophilus Hambro [3] Conservative 1891 by-election William Ernest Brymer Conservative 1906 Thomas Scarisbrick Liberal 1910 Angus Valdimar Hambro Conservative 1918 Coalition Conservative 1922 Robert Yerburgh Conservative 1929 Viscount Cranborne [4] Conservative 1941 by-election Viscount Hinchingbrooke [5] Conservative 1962 by-election Guy Barnett Labour 1964 Evelyn King Conservative 1979 Viscount Cranborne Conservative 1987 Ian Bruce Conservative 2001 Jim Knight Labour 2010 Richard Drax Conservative Elections
Elections in the 2010s
General Election 2010: South Dorset[6] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Richard Drax 22,667 45.1 +7.1 Labour Jim Knight 15,224 30.3 -11.4 Liberal Democrat Ros Kayes 9,557 19.0 +3.2 UKIP Mike Hobson 2,034 4.0 +0.8 Green Brian Heatley 595 1.2 +1.2 Movement for Active Democracy Andy Kirkwood 233 0.5 +0.5 Majority 7,443 14.8 Turnout 50,310 68.1 -1.3 Conservative gain from Labour Swing +9.3 Elections in the 2000s
General Election 2005: South Dorset Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Jim Knight 20,231 41.6 −0.4 Conservative Ed Matts 18,419 37.9 −3.7 Liberal Democrat Graham Oakes 7,647 15.7 +1.3 UKIP Hugh Chalker 1,571 3.2 +1.2 Legalise Cannabis Vic Hamilton 282 0.6 N/A Respect Berny Parkes 219 0.5 N/A Personality and Rational Thinking? Yes! Party Andrew Kirkwood 107 0.2 N/A Wessex Regionalist Colin Bex 83 0.2 N/A Socialist Labour David Marchesi 25 0.1 N/A Majority 1,812 3.7 Turnout 48,584 68.7 +3.2 Labour hold Swing +1.7 General Election 2001: South Dorset Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Jim Knight 19,027 42.0 +6.0 Conservative Ian Bruce 18,874 41.6 +5.5 Liberal Democrat Andy Canning 6,531 14.4 -5.8 UKIP Laurie Moss 913 2.0 +0.3 Majority 153 0.4 Turnout 45,345 65.5 -8.5 Labour gain from Conservative Swing Elections in the 1990s
General Election 1992: South Dorset[7] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Ian Bruce 29,319 50.3 −4.5 Liberal Democrat BEJ Ellis 15,811 27.1 −0.3 Labour A Chedzoy 12,298 21.1 +3.8 Independent Mrs JW Hagel 673 1.2 N/A Natural Law MRF Griffiths 191 0.3 N/A Majority 13,508 23.2 −4.2 Turnout 58,292 76.9 +1.4 Conservative hold Swing −2.1 See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)
- ^ Died 1891
- ^ Called to the House of Lords, by a writ in acceleration, as Lord Cecil of Essendon in 1941
- ^ Succeeded as the 10th Earl of Sandwich
- ^ Grainger, Tom (20 April 2010). "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Acting Returning Officer. Weymouth & Portland Borough Council. http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=147497&filetype=pdf. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
- ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
Sources
- BBC News article on the 2001 South Dorset election
Constituencies in South West England (55) Conservative (36) Bournemouth East · Bournemouth West · Bridgwater and West Somerset · Bristol North West · Camborne and Redruth · Central Devon · Christchurch · Devizes · East Devon · Filton and Bradley Stoke · Forest of Dean · Gloucester · Kingswood · Newton Abbot · North Dorset · North East Somerset · North Somerset · North Swindon · North Wiltshire · Plymouth Sutton and Devonport · Poole · Salisbury · South Dorset · South East Cornwall · South Swindon · South West Devon · South West Wiltshire · Stroud · Tewkesbury · The Cotswolds · Tiverton and Honiton · Torridge and West Devon · Totnes · Truro and Falmouth · West Dorset · Weston-super-Mare
Liberal Democrats (15) Labour (4) South West England European constituency: Conservative (3) · UKIP (2) · Liberal Democrats (1)
Categories:- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1885
- Parliamentary constituencies in Dorset
- Weymouth, Dorset
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