Battersea (UK Parliament constituency)

Battersea
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Battersea in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	73,028 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Jane Ellison (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Battersea North and Battersea South
1885 (1885)–1918 (1918)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Battersea North and Battersea South
Created from	East Surrey
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Battersea is a parliamentary constituency located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Boundaries

Battersea in the Metropolitan Board of Works area, showing boundaries used from 1885 to 1918.

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of-

• "No. 2 Ward of Battersea Parish,
• No. 3 Ward of Battersea Parish, and
• So much of No. 4 Ward of Battersea Parish as lies to the north of a line drawn along the centre of Battersea Rise, and to the west of a line drawn along the centre of the St. John's Road."

Battersea is an unusually-shaped constituency due to it following the Thames as it snakes into and out of central London, covering the north-eastern third of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

It takes in all of the district of Battersea including the park and riverside, and stretches out eastwards to include Nine Elms and Queenstown; and westwards to include most of Wandsworth town, including the riverside, the Town Hall and East Hill in Fairfield ward. But Battersea also stretches south between Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common to include Balham ward, which is actually only the eastern end of Balham (the rest being in Tooting). It is no longer the safe Labour seat it used to be as the area had a considerable influx of young professionals, or yuppies, in the mid-1980s which swung it towards the Conservatives. It returned to Labour in 1997, but had a reduced majority for Labour in 2005, and was regained by the Tories in 2010.

It is bordered by the constituencies of-

• Putney
• Tooting
• Hammersmith & Fulham
• Kensington & Chelsea
• Cities of London & Westminster
• Vauxhall
• Streatham

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Battersea constituency from the following electoral wards:

• Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St Mary’s Park, Shaftesbury.

History

Battersea constituency was originally created in 1885. From 1892 to 1918 the seat was held by trade union leader John Burns, who would serve in the Liberal cabinets of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Asquith from 1905 until 1914. The constituency was split in 1918 into two constituencies, Battersea North and Battersea South. The two constituencies were rejoined in 1983, although some areas of Battersea South became part of the adjoining Tooting constituency. Alf Dubs, who had previously been MP for Battersea South, won the constituency for the Labour Party in 1983 and the Conservative candidate John Bowis won in 1987 and 1992. Martin Linton won it back for the Labour Party in 1997 and held the seat until 2010.

In the 2005 election, Linton's majority was reduced resulting in him having the fourth smallest Labour majority in the country at the time.

Trivia

In 2001, the candidate T.E Barber used the candidate description "No fruit out of context party", and advocated the end of, amongst other crimes against food, pineapples on pizza. (David Boothroyd)

In the book "Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter," John O'Farrell describes his experiences of being the secretary of the Battersea Labour party, during which time Labour lost every election in which they participated, and eventually lost the MP, Alf Dubs.

The old Battersea North seat is one of only two seats in London to have had a Communist MP Shapurji Saklatvala represented the area from 1922 to 1929. A wealthy aristocratic Indian he was not only one of the first Communists ever elected to the House of Commons but also only the third from an ethnic-minority background. At first, Saklatvala had local Labour party support but then stood as a Communist in 1924 with local Labour party backing. However, the national party stepped in to ensure in 1929 that an official Labour candidate stood against him. The Battersea Labour Club had a notice on its notice board up until the 1980s banning Communists from admission to the club.

Members of Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
22nd	1885–1886		Octavius Vaughan Morgan	Liberal
23rd	1886–1892
24th	1892–1895		John Burns	Liberal-Labour
25th	1895–1900
26th	1900–1906
27th	1906–1910
28th	1910
29th	1910–1918
see Battersea North and Battersea South for 1918-1983
48th	1983–1987		Alf Dubs	Labour
49th	1987–1992		John Bowis	Conservative
50th	1992–1997
51st	1997–2001		Martin Linton	Labour
52nd	2001–2005
53rd	2005–2010
54th	2010-		Jane Ellison	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2010: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jane Ellison	23,103	47.3	+7.3
	Labour	Martin Linton	17,126	35.1	-4.1
	Liberal Democrat	Layla Moran	7,176	14.7	-0.1
	Green	Guy Evans	559	1.1	-3.1
	UKIP	Christopher MacDonald	505	1.0	+0.2
	Hugh Salmon for Battersea Party	Hugh Salmon	168	0.3	+0.3
	Independent	Tom Fox	155	0.3	+0.3
Majority			5,977	12.2
Turnout			48,792	65.7	+6.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.5

General Election 2005: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Linton	16,569	40.4	-9.9
	Conservative	Dominic Schofield	16,406	40.0	+3.5
	Liberal Democrat	Norsheen Bhatti	6,006	14.6	+2.5
	Green	Hugo Charlton	1,735	4.2	+4.2
	UKIP	Terry Jones	333	0.8	+0.8
Majority			163	0.4
Turnout			41,049	59.0	+4.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Linton	18,498	50.3	-0.5
	Conservative	Lucy Shersby	13,445	36.5	-2.9
	Liberal Democrat	Siobhan Vitelli	4,450	12.1	+4.7
	Independent	Thomas Barber	411	1.1	N/A
Majority			5,053	13.7
Turnout			36,804	54.5	-16.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Linton	24,047	50.74	+9.5
	Conservative	John Bowis	18,687	39.43	−11.1
	Liberal Democrat	Paula Keaveney	3,482	7.35	+0.3
	Referendum Party	M. Slater	804	1.70	+1.7
	UKIP	A. Banks	250	0.53	+0.5
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	J. Marshall	127	0.3	+0.3
Majority			5,360	11.31
Turnout			47,397	70.85	−6.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.20

General Election 1992: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bowis	26,390	50.48	+6.2
	Labour	Alf Dubs	21,550	41.22	−1.2
	Liberal Democrat	R O'Brien	3,659	7.00	−4.9
	Green	I. Wingrove	584	1.12	−0.1
	Natural Law	W. Stevens	98	0.19	+0.2
Majority			4,840	9.26
Turnout			52,281	76.64	−5.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bowis	20,945	44.24	+7.8
	Labour	Alf Dubs	20,088	42.43	−1.5
	Social Democrat	D. I. Harries	5,634	11.90	−5.6
	Green	S. G. Willington	559	1.18	+0.3
	Workers Revolutionary	A. B. Bell	116	0.25	+0.3
Majority			857	1.81
Turnout			47,342	70.68	+4.3
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+4.6

General Election 1983: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alf Dubs	19,248	43.8	−6.4
	Conservative	Rupert Allason	15,972	36.4	−2.4
	Social Democrat	M. Harris	7,675	17.5	+9.4
	National Front	M. J. Salt	539	1.2	−1.0
	Ecology	S. G. Willington	377	0.9	N/A
	Campaign for Black & White Unity	T. Jackson	86	0.2	N/A
	Communist	K. Purie-Harwell	22	0.1	N/A
Majority			3,276	7.5
Turnout			43,919	66.6	−3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.0

Elections in the 1970s

1979 Prediction for Battersea boundaries

General Election 1979: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour		14,909	50.2
	Conservative		11,505	38.8
	Liberal		2,412	8.1
	National Front		667	2.2
	Workers Party		104	0.4
	Workers Revolutionary		47	0.2
	Community Party		30	0.1
Majority			3,404	11.5
Turnout			29,674	69.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election December 1910: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	7,836	52.7	1.0
	Conservative	Major Sir John Lane Harrington	6,544	44.0	-4.3
	Independent Labour	Charles Nathaniel Lowe Shaw	477	3.2	N/A
Majority			1,292
Turnout			18,927	78.5
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

General Election January 1910: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	8540	51.7	-4.4
	Conservative	Arthur Shirley Benn	7985	48.3	4.4
Majority			555
Turnout			18,927	87.3
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	7,387	56.1	5.0
	Conservative	Arthur Shirley Benn	5,787	43.9	-5.0
Majority			1,600
Turnout			15,369	85.7
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

General Election 1900: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	5,860	51.1	-0.1
	Conservative	R.C. Garton	5,606	48.9	0.1
Majority			254
Turnout			14,420	79.5
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	5,010	51.2	-6.9
	Conservative	Charles Ridley Smith	4,766	48.8	6.9
Majority			244
Turnout			12,880	75.9
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

General Election 1892: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	John Burns	5,616	58.1	6.8
	Conservative	W.M. Chinnery	4,057	41.9	-6.8
Majority			1,559
Turnout			12,381	78.1
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Octavius Vaughan Morgan	3,683	51.3
	Conservative	E.C. Willis	3,497	48.7
Majority			186
Turnout			10,019	71.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

Battersea by-election, 1886
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Octavius Vaughan Morgan	unopposed
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1885: Battersea and Clapham, Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Octavius Vaughan Morgan	4,259	54.6
	Conservative	John Edward Cooke	3,547	45.4
Majority			712
Turnout			10,019	77.9
	Liberal gain from new seat		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• Debrett’s Illustrated Heraldic and Biographical House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1886
• Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1901
• Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1918