Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Finchley
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County 1918–1965 Middlesex
1965–1997 Greater London
1950–1997
SeatsOne
Replaced by Finchley & Golders Green (newly created seat)
Chipping Barnet (in part)
1918–1950
SeatsOne
Type of constituency County constituency
Created from Hornsey (bulk of seat formed former western part of)
Enfield (as to the Friern Barnet part)
Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1918-45 Finchley1918.png
Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1918–45
Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1945-50 Finchley1945.png
Finchley within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, boundaries used 1945–50
Map that gives each named seat and any constant electoral success for national (Westminster) elections for Middlesex, 1955 to 1974. Final Middlesex constituencies (1955-74).svg
Map that gives each named seat and any constant electoral success for national (Westminster) elections for Middlesex, 1955 to 1974.

Finchley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by first-past-the-post voting; its longest-serving and best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained the large majority by which she won in 1959, her constituents nonetheless returned her by comfortable (9,000) majorities at general elections throughout her premiership.

Contents

The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the Finchley and Golders Green and Chipping Barnet constituencies.

Boundaries

In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of Middlesex, centred on the town of Finchley, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency. In 1934 the Finchley district became a Municipal Borough.

In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution of 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes.

In 1950 the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency, with the boundaries reverting to those of 1918.

In 1965 the area of the constituency changed counties from Middlesex to London. Specifically its areas joined with others to form the London Borough of Barnet of Greater London.

Members of Parliament

EventMemberParty
1918 John Newman Unionist
1923 Atholl Robertson Liberal
1924 Edward Cadogan Unionist
1935 John Crowder Conservative
1959 Margaret Thatcher
1992 Hartley Booth
1997 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
C Unionist John Pretyman Newman 11,84968.9
Labour John Leslie 3,14018.2
Liberal Walter Edwin Martin2,22112.9
Majority8,70950.7
Turnout 17,21059.7
Registered electors 28,848
Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist John Pretyman Newman 11,883 53.2 −15.7
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 10,44046.8+33.9
Majority1,4436.4−44.3
Turnout 22,32372.4+12.7
Registered electors 30,843
Unionist hold Swing −24.8
General election 1923: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 13,159 54.7 +7.9
Unionist John Pretyman Newman 10,88345.3−7.9
Majority2,2769.4N/A
Turnout 24,04276.0+3.6
Registered electors 31,650
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing +7.9
General election 1924: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Edward Cadogan 15,277 58.3 +13.0
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 10,94241.7−13.0
Majority4,33516.6N/A
Turnout 26,21979.5+3.5
Registered electors 32,984
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +13.0
General election 1929: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Edward Cadogan 18,920 48.8 −9.5
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 14,06536.2−5.5
Labour J. George Stone5,82415.0New
Majority4,85512.6−4.0
Turnout 38,80977.2−2.3
Registered electors 50,243
Unionist hold Swing −2.0

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Edward Cadogan 34,286 84.2 +35.4
Labour J. George Stone6,44015.8+0.8
Majority27,84668.4+55.8
Turnout 40,72674.3―2.9
Conservative hold Swing +17.3

Liberal candidate Lady Domini Crosfield withdrew following the formation of the National Government.

General election 1935: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Crowder 26,960 63.6 ―20.6
Liberal T. Atholl Robertson 8,92021.0New
Labour Cyril G Lacey6,53315.4―0.4
Majority18,04042.6―31.8
Turnout 42,41370.2―4.1
Conservative hold Swing N/A

General Election 1939–40 Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940, but it was postponed after the outbreak of World War II. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939, and by the end of that year the following candidates had been selected:

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Finchley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Crowder 24,256 48.5 ―15.1
Labour Cyril G Lacey18,61137.2+21.8
Liberal David Goldblatt7,16414.3―6.7
Majority5,64511.28―31.3
Turnout 50,03174.2+4.0
Conservative hold Swing +18.4

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Crowder 32,262 52.9 +4.4
Labour Dorothy Pickles 19,68332.3―5.0
Liberal Andrew McFadyean 9,09414.9+0.6
Majority12,57920.6+9.3
Turnout 60,99984.9+10.7
Conservative hold Swing +4.2
General election 1951: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Crowder 33,308 54.9 +2.0
Labour Jack Ashley 20,52033.8+1.6
Liberal Walter John Done6,85311.3―3.6
Majority12,78821.1+0.5
Turnout 60,41184.0―0.9
Conservative hold Swing +0.3
General election 1955: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John Crowder 30,233 54.5 ―0.4
Labour Terence Lancaster 17,40831.4―2.4
Liberal Manuela Sykes 7,77514.0+2.7
Majority12,82523.1+2.0
Turnout 55,41678.3―5.7
Conservative hold Swing ―1.0

General election 1959: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 29,697 53.2 ―1.3
Labour Eric Deakins 13,43724.1―7.3
Liberal Henry Ivan Spence12,70122.7+8.7
Majority16,26029.1+6.0
Turnout 55,83580.8+2.5
Conservative hold Swing +3.0

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 24,591 46.6 ―6.6
Liberal John Pardoe 15,78929.9+7.2
Labour Albert Edward Tomlinson12,40823.5―0.6
Majority8,80216.7―12.4
Turnout 52,78878.2―2.6
Conservative hold Swing

General election 1966: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 23,968 46.5 ―0.1
Labour Yvonne Sieve14,50428.1+4.6
Liberal Frank Davis13,07025.4― 4.5
Majority9,46418.4+1.7
Turnout 51,54275.3―2.9
Conservative hold Swing ―2.4

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 25,480 53.8 +7.3
Labour Michael Freeman14,29530.2+2.1
Liberal Graham Mitchell7,61416.1―9.3
Majority11,18523.6+5.2
Turnout 47,38965.6―9.7
Conservative hold Swing +2.6

General election February 1974: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 18,180 43.7 ―8.6
Labour Martin O'Connor12,20229.3―2.3
Liberal Laurence Brass11,22127.0+10.9
Majority5,97814.4
Turnout 41,60378.0
Conservative hold Swing ―3.1

General election October 1974: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 16,498 44.0 +0.3
Labour Martin O'Connor12,58733.6+4.3
Liberal Laurence Brass7,38419.7―7.3
National Front Janet Godfrey9932.7New
Majority3,91110.4―4.0
Turnout 37,46269.5―8.5
Conservative hold Swing ―2.0

General election 1979: Finchley
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 20,918 52.5 +8.5
Labour Richard May 13,04032.7―0.9
Liberal Anthony Paterson5,25413.2―6.5
National Front William Verity5341.3―1.4
Independent DemocratElizabeth Lloyd860.2New
Majority7,87819.8+9.4
Turnout 39,83272.5+3.0
Conservative hold Swing +4.7

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Finchley [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 19,616 51.1 ―1.4
Labour Laurence Spigel10,30226.8―5.9
Liberal Margaret Joachim 7,76320.2+7.0
Ecology Simone Wilkinson2790.7New
Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 2350.6New
Ban Every Licensing Law SocietyAnthony Noonan750.2New
Rail Not MotorwayHelen Anscomb420.1New
Law and Order in Gotham CityAnthony Whitehead370.1New
Anti-Censorship David Webb 280.1New
Party of Associates with LicenseesBrian Wareham270.1New
Belgrano Blood-HungerBenjamin Wedmore130.0New
Majority9,31424.3+4.5
Turnout 38,41769.0―3.5
Conservative hold Swing +2.2

General election 1987: Finchley [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 21,603 53.9 +2.8
Labour John Davies12,69031.7+4.9
Liberal David Howarth5,58013.9―7.3
Gremloid Party Lord Buckethead 1310.3New
Gold PartyMichaelle St Vincent590.2New
Majority8,91322.2―2.1
Turnout 40,06369.4+0.4
Conservative hold Swing ―1.0

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Finchley [4] [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Hartley Booth 21,039 51.2 ―2.7
Labour Ann Marjoram14,65135.7+4.0
Liberal Democrats Hilary Leighter4,56811.1―2.8
Green Ashley Gunstock 5641.4New
Monster Raving Loony Sally Johnson1300.3New
Natural Law James Macrae1290.3New
Majority6,38815.5―6.7
Turnout 41,08177.6+8.2
Conservative hold Swing ―3.3

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
  2. ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  4. ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

Sources

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency UK Parliament constituency
1918–1997 		Succeeded by
Finchley and Golders Green (newly created seat)
Succeeded by
Chipping Barnet (in part)
Preceded by Constituency represented by the leader of the opposition
1975–1979		Succeeded by
Preceded by Constituency represented by the prime minister
1979–1990		Succeeded by

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