Lambeth Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Lambeth Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Lambeth Central in Greater London for the 1974 general election
County	Greater London
1974 (1974)–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Brixton and Clapham
Replaced by	Vauxhall, Streatham and Norwood [1]

Lambeth Central was a parliamentary constituency in the London Borough of Lambeth, in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament (using first-past-the-post voting).

The seat, centred on Clapham, was created for the February 1974 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election, when most of its territory was transferred to the redrawn Vauxhall constituency.

History

This short-lived seat is best known in the news media for the by-election of 1978. This was controversial because of a high-profile campaign by the National Front in one of the most racially diverse constituencies in the UK; the party fielded a candidate in the following general election also. On both occasions the candidates lost their deposits for want of votes.

The constituency shared boundaries with the Lambeth Central electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 1974–1983

The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Angell, Clapham Town, Ferndale, Larkhall, and Town Hall.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	Feb 1974	Marcus Lipton	Labour	Died February 1978
	1978 by-election	John Tilley	Labour	Contested Southwark and Bermondsey following redistribution
1983		constituency abolished: see Vauxhall, Streatham and Norwood

Elections

1970 notional result [2]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	16,300	55.3
	Conservative	13,200	44.7
Turnout		29,500	56.7
Electorate		52,022

General election February 1974: Lambeth Central ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Marcus Lipton	15,954	52.8	–2.4
	Conservative	Chris Patten	8,585	28.4	–16.3
	Liberal	Eric Thwaites	5,226	17.3	New
	Workers Revolutionary	Sylvester Smart	337	1.1	New
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	Ekins Brome	107	0.4	New
Majority			7,369	24.4	+13.9
Turnout			30,209	62.3	+5.6
Registered electors			48,510
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.9

General election October 1974: Lambeth Central ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Marcus Lipton	15,381	60.0	+7.2
	Conservative	Nicholas Lyell	6,704	26.2	–2.2
	Liberal	Peter Easton	3,211	12.5	–4.8
	Workers Revolutionary	Sylvester Smart	233	0.9	–0.2
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	Peter Bratton	88	0.3	–0.0
Majority			8,677	33.9	+9.5
Turnout			25,617	52.6	–9.7
Registered electors			48,716
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.7

1978 Lambeth Central by-election: Lambeth Central ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	John Tilley	10,311	49.5	–10.6
	Conservative	Jeremy Hanley	7,170	34.4	+8.2
	National Front	Helena Steven	1,291	6.2	New
	Liberal	David Blunt	1,104	1.4	–7.2
	Socialist Unity	John Chase	287	1.4	New
	Workers Revolutionary	Corin Redgrave	271	1.3	+0.4
	Socialist Workers	Anthony Bogues	201	1.0	New
	Socialist (GB)	Barry Kenneth	91	0.4	New
	Homes, Employment, Anti-Racial Discrimination	Alan Whereat	55	0.3	New
	South London People's Front	Stuart Monro	38	0.2	New
	Democratic Monarchist Public Safety White Resident	Bill Boaks	27	0.1	New
Majority			3,141	15.1	–18.8
Turnout			20,846	44.5	–8.1
Registered electors			46,826
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	–9.4

General election 1979: Lambeth Central ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	John Tilley	15,101	54.7	–5.3
	Conservative	Jeremy Hanley	9,125	33.1	+6.9
	Liberal	David Blunt	2,339	8.5	–4.1
	National Front	Vera Lillington	830	3.0	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Corin Redgrave	152	0.6	–0.4
	Independent	Alan Whereat	50	0.2	N/A
Majority			5,976	21.7	–12.2
Turnout			27,597	63.2	+10.6
Registered electors			43,678
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	–6.1

References

1. "'Lambeth Central', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. Michael Stead. "1970 notional general election & February 1974 general election". BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
3. Craig, Fred W. S (1984). Britain votes 2 : British parliamentary election results 1974-1979. Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   090017823X . Retrieved 4 May 2025.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)