North Southwark and Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

North Southwark and Bermondsey
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
NorthSouthwarkBermondseyConstituency.svg
Boundary of North Southwark and Bermondsey in Greater Londonfor the 2005 general election
County Greater London
19972010
SeatsOne
Created from Southwark and Bermondsey
Replaced by Bermondsey and Old Southwark

North Southwark and Bermondsey was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for the 1997 general election.

Contents

Minor boundary changes occurred for the 2010 general election; the constituency was renamed Bermondsey and Old Southwark.

Boundaries

The London Borough of Southwark wards of Abbey, Bricklayers, Browning, Burgess, Cathedral, Chaucer, Dockyard, Newington, Riverside, and Rotherhithe.

As the name suggests, the seat incorporated large parts of the old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey and Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, within the modern London Borough of Southwark (which is much larger than historic Southwark).

The seat was created in 1997 and was primarily the successor seat to the old Southwark & Bermondsey constituency which existed from 1983 until 1997. Before that the core of the seat was the Bermondsey constituency in which incarnation a notorious by-election took place in 1983.

For the 2010 United Kingdom general election it was replaced by a renamed but barely altered Bermondsey and Old Southwark.

History

For the detailed history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1997, see Southwark and Bermondsey.

Southwark North and Bermondsey was unusual for an Inner London constituency in that the area was represented by a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for over twenty-five years. Many commentators felt that this unusual state of affairs was entirely down to the circumstances of the 1983 Bermondsey by-election.[ citation needed ] Prior to this, the seat had a long history of representation by Labour MPs, but in the early 1980s the local Labour Party was dominated by the far left. The sitting MP Bob Mellish was directly opposed to their approach and accepted an invitation to sit on the board directing the regeneration of London Docklands.

Bermondsey Constituency Labour Party selected its secretary Peter Tatchell. A magazine article he had written about direct action was used by a Social Democrat MP to embarrass Labour Party leader Michael Foot who impetuously denounced Tatchell and stated that he would not be endorsed, but the party was forced to accept him when Mellish resigned from the House of Commons, triggering a by-election widely regarded as one of the dirtiest in history. Tatchell came in for immense local and national vilification and in a shock result the Liberal candidate Simon Hughes established that his party had the best chance of the other candidates, and monopolised the anti-Tatchell vote.

Hughes continued to win the seat, at times being the only Liberal Democrat MP in London. The Labour Party had a strong desire to re-take the seat, which was often predicted to change hands on a uniform swing occurring in elections. However Hughes repeatedly defied the national trend and held the seat. On one memorable occasion, during the results of the 1997 general election he was told on air by Jonathan Dimbleby that Labour had gained the seat, only for the result to re-elect Hughes with a good majority.

In local elections, the London Borough of Southwark was run by the Liberal Democrats until 2010, with Conservative support as the Lib Dems did not have a majority. Labour won majority control of the council in the May 2010 elections. Following Boundary Commission changes to both sides of the Thames, it altered slightly in shape, but changed its name to Bermondsey and Old Southwark. At the 2015 general election, Labour in the person of Neil Coyle finally re-gained the seat in a shock result, bringing Simon Hughes's 32-year parliamentary career to an abrupt end.

Members of Parliament

The seat's only MP was Simon Hughes, who sat for the various Bermondsey seats since a by-election in 1983 until his defeat in 2015, as a Liberal MP until 1988 and as a Liberal Democrat after that.

ElectionMember [1] Party
1997 Simon Hughes Liberal Democrats
2010 Constituency abolished: see Bermondsey and Old Southwark

Elections

Bermondsey historical election results Bermondsey election results.png
Bermondsey historical election results

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: North Southwark and Bermondsey (Notional) [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats 51.4
Labour 34.5
Conservative 12.0
Others2.1
Majority16.9
General election 1997: North Southwark and Bermondsey [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes 19,831 48.6 −2.8
Labour Jeremy Fraser16,44440.3+5.8
Conservative Grant Shapps 2,8356.9−5.1
BNP Michael Davidson7131.7New
Referendum Bill Newton5451.3New
Communist League Ian Grant1750.4New
Liberal James Munday1570.4New
National Democrats Ingga Yngvisson950.2New
Majority3,3878.3
Turnout 40,79360.4
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: North Southwark and Bermondsey [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes 20,991 56.9 +8.3
Labour Kingsley Abrams11,35930.8−9.5
Conservative Ewan Wallace2,8007.6+0.7
Green Ruth Jenkins7522.0New
National Front Lianne Shore6121.7New
UKIP Robert McWhirter2710.7New
Communist League John Davies770.2New
Majority9,63226.1+17.8
Turnout 35,15050.1-10.3
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
General election 2005: Southwark North & Bermondsey [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes 17,874 47.1 −9.8
Labour Kirsty McNeill12,46832.8+2.0
Conservative David Branch4,75212.5+4.9
Green Storm Poorun1,1373.0+1.0
UKIP Linda Robson7912.1+1.4
National Front Paul Winnett7041.9+0.2
CPA Simisola Lawanson2330.6New
Majority5,40614.3-11.8
Turnout 37,95948.2−1.9
Liberal Democrats hold Swing −5.9

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Hughes</span> Former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes is a British former politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an external adviser to The Open University, and a strategic adviser to Talgo, a Spanish manufacturer of trains. Hughes was deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2014, and from 2013 until 2015 was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark from 1983 until 2015. He declined a position in the House of Lords in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brent East (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Former UK Parliament constituency, 1974-2010

Brent East was a parliamentary constituency in north west London; it was replaced by Brent Central for the 2010 general election. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 Bermondsey by-election</span>

A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish. Peter Tatchell stood as the candidate for the Labour Party, and Simon Hughes stood for the Liberal Party. Following a bitter campaign, the Liberals made huge gains and took the seat, with a majority of votes cast. Labour's vote fell from 63.6 per cent in May 1979 to 26.1 per cent as Tatchell came a distant second, while the Conservative candidate, Robert Hughes, managed only fourth place, losing his deposit. With a swing of 44.2%, the 1983 Bermondsey by-election remains the largest by-election swing in British political history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islington South and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974 onwards

Islington South and Finsbury is a constituency created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Emily Thornberry of the Labour Party. Thornberry served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 until 2020 and is currently Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich South (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

Norwich South is a constituency in Norfolk represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, since 2015 by Clive Lewis, of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency since 1918

East Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Claire Coutinho, a Conservative serving as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The seat covers an affluent area in the English county of Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Withington (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918 onwards

Manchester Withington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jeff Smith of Labour. Of the 30 seats with the highest percentage of winning majority in 2017, the seat ranks 25th with a 55.7% margin, and is the only one of the twenty nine of these seats won by the Labour Party in which the second-placed candidate was a Liberal Democrat, rather than Conservative. This is despite being a Conservative seat right up to 1987, then becoming relatively safely Labour, then Liberal Democrat from 2005 to 2015 before they lost on a large swing in 2015, after which Smith substantially increased his majority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton Kemptown (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency in England since 1950

Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wimbledon (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885 onwards

Wimbledon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2005, the seat has been represented by Stephen Hammond of the Conservatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1832 onwards

Rochdale is a seat represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It has elected one Member of Parliament (MP) since its 1832 creation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walsall North (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1955 onwards

Walsall North is a constituency created in 1955 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Eddie Hughes, a member of the Conservative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dulwich and West Norwood (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency since 1997

Dulwich and West Norwood is a constituency in South London created in 1997. It has been represented by Helen Hayes of Labour since her election in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vauxhall (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

Vauxhall is a constituency represented in the House of Commons by Florence Eshalomi of Labour Co-op since her election in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliamentary constituencies in London</span>

The region of Greater London, including the City of London, is divided into 73 parliamentary constituencies which are sub-classified as borough constituencies, affecting the type of electoral officer and level of expenses permitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Mellish</span> British politician

Robert Joseph Mellish, Baron Mellish, PC was a British politician. He was a long-serving Labour Party MP of 36 years, from 1946 to 1982. He served as the Labour Chief Whip from 1969 until 1976, but in his later years he fell out with his local Constituency Labour Party which he felt had become dominated by people on the left of the Labour Party, and he eventually left the party. He became a life peer in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermondsey and Old Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency in England since 2010

Bermondsey and Old Southwark is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2015, it has been represented by Neil Coyle, who was elected as a Labour MP but was suspended from the party from 2022 to 2023 following an accusation of racism.

Dulwich was a borough constituency in the Dulwich area of South London, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwood (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1997

Norwood was a parliamentary constituency in south London which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950–1983

Bermondsey was a borough constituency centred on the Bermondsey district of South London, England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Southwark and Bermondsey was an inner city constituency in London, United Kingdom. Its sole Member of Parliament was Simon Hughes, in the first stage of his career in the house, as a Liberal then Liberal Democrat after the party's founding in 1988. It was replaced with the North Southwark and Bermondsey seat in 1997.

References

  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
  2. "British Parliamentary Election results 1997-: Scottish Counties". Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  3. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

51°29′46″N0°04′16″W / 51.496°N 0.071°W / 51.496; -0.071