Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Beckenham
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Beckenham in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	66,470 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament	Bob Stewart (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

New wards and boundaries of the Beckenham Parliament constituency (red) within the London Borough of Bromley (yellow)

Beckenham is a parliamentary 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.

Constituency profile

The northernmost third of the constituency, around Penge and Crystal Palace, can be categorised as being similar in character to neighbouring Lewisham and north Croydon, having an inner-city feel about it and many ethnic minority residents. This part of the constituency votes strongly for the Liberal Democrats, with Labour also competitive.

The remaining two thirds of the constituency consists of leafy Bromley suburbia, also taking in the town of Beckenham itself. This area votes 60-70% for the Conservatives and is the reason why the constituency has been safely Conservative even in disastrous years for the party such as 1997 and 2001.

The addition, from the Bromley and Chislehurst seat, of Bromley Common and Keston ward, as well as that part of Hayes & Coney Hall ward that lay outside the constituency before the boundary review, and the removal of the Penge and Cator, Clockhouse and Crystal Palace wards, were predicted to make Beckenham the safest Conservative seat in the country.

History

Beckenham has never elected anyone other than a Conservative as its MP in modern times. It is a safe Conservative seat because there is a solid core of Conservative voters in the suburban parts of the constituency and the opposition is somewhat divided between Labour and Lib Dem. Unlike neighbouring Orpington constituency, a strong Lib Dem challenge could never succeed by squeezing out Labour votes here because of the presence of so many traditional Labour voters in Penge, which are quite inner-London in character.

The closest the Conservatives have ever come to losing this seat was at a by-election in November 1997, at the height of Tony Blair's 'honeymoon period' as Prime Minister, following the resignation of the previous MP Piers Merchant in a sex scandal. Even then, the former MP for Hastings Jacqui Lait managed to hold on to the seat for the Conservatives by just over 1,000 votes.

Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham was Sir Philip Goodhart, who was soon discovered by Mrs Thatcher to be a 'wet' and consequently his career as a junior minister came to a quick end early in her premiership. Goodhart is best known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee, and for his brother Charles, who was a famous economics professor at LSE and sat for some time on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.

Before Sir Philip Goodhart, the former Conservative Chief Whip Patrick Buchan-Hepburn represented Beckenham in Parliament.

Boundaries

Beckenham constituency covers the north-western part of the London Borough of Bromley. Since 2010 it is made up of six electoral wards from the borough:

• Bromley Common and Keston, Copers Cope, Hayes and Coney Hall, Kelsey and Eden Park, Shortlands, and West Wickham.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England made revisions to the existing Beckenham constituency. Clock House ward, Crystal Palace ward, and Penge and Cator ward were transferred from Beckenham to help create the new constituency of Lewisham West and Penge. Parts of Bromley Common and Keston ward, Hayes and Coney Hall ward, and Shortlands ward were transferred to Beckenham from Bromley and Chislehurst. A small part of Bromley Common and Keston ward was transferred to Beckenham from Orpington and a tiny part of Bromley Town ward was transferred from Beckenham to Bromley and Chislehurst.

Historic boundaries

1983-1997: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge, and Shortlands.

1997-2002: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge, Shortlands, West Wickham North, and West Wickham South. The local government ward boundaries were then reviewed with effect from May 2002.

2002-2010: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Bromley Town (part), Clock House, Copers Cope, Crystal Palace, Hayes and Coney Hall (part), Kelsey and Eden Park, Penge, Shortlands and West Wickham.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Patrick Buchan-Hepburn	Conservative
	1957 by-election	Sir Philip Goodhart	Conservative
	1992	Piers Merchant	Conservative
	1997 by-election	Jacqui Lait	Conservative
	2010	Bob Stewart	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bob Stewart	27,597	57.9	+12
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Jenkins	9,813	20.6	+4.5
	Labour	Damien Egan	6,893	14.5	-4.3
	UKIP	Owen Brolly	1,551	3.3	+0.4
	BNP	Roger Tonks	1,001	2.1	+2.1
	Green	Ann Garrett	608	1.3	+1.3
	English Democrats	Dan Eastgate	223	0.5	+0.5
Majority			17,784	37.3
Turnout			47,686	72	+6.7

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacqui Lait	22,183	45.3	0.0
	Labour	Liam Curran	13,782	28.1	–6.3
	Liberal Democrat	Jef Foulger	10,862	22.2	+6.2
	UKIP	James Cartwright	1,301	2.7	+1.0
	Independent	Roderick Reed	836	1.7	+1.7
Majority			8,401	17.2
Turnout			48,964	65.5	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.1

General Election 2001: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacqui Lait	20,618	45.3	+2.8
	Labour	Richard Watts	15,659	34.4	+1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Alexander Feakes	7,308	16.0	–2.1
	Green	Karen Moran	961	2.1
	UKIP	Christopher Pratt	782	1.7	+0.8
	Liberal	Riff Winfield	234	0.5	–0.8
Majority			4,959	10.9
Turnout			45,562	62.6	–11.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

Elections in the 1990s

Beckenham by-election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacqui Lait	13,162	41.3	–1.2
	Labour	Robert Hughes	11,935	37.4	+4.0
	Liberal Democrat	Rosemary Vetterlein	5,864	18.4	+0.2
	Liberal	Phil Rimmer	330	1.0	–0.3
	National Front	John McAuley	267	0.8	+0.09
	Referendum Party	Leonard Mead	237	0.8	–2.4
	Independent	John Campion	69	0.2	N/A
	Natural Law	John Small	44	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,227
Turnout				43.1	–31.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	–2.6

General Election 1997: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Piers Merchant	23,084	42.5	-14.4
	Labour	Robert Hughes	18,131	33.4	+9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Rosemary Vetterlein	9,858	18.1	+0.7
	Referendum Party	Leonard Mead	1,663	3.1	N/A
	Liberal	Phil Rimmer	720	1.3	-0.1
	UKIP	P. Shaw	506	0.9	N/A
	National Front	John McAuley	388	0.71	N/A
Majority			4,953
Turnout				74.6	-3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

"

General Election 1992:Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Piers Merchant	26,323	56.9	+0.6
	Labour	KGH Ritchie	11,038	23.8	+6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs MC Williams	8,038	17.4	-8.5
	Liberal	G Williams	643	1.4	-24.5
	Natural Law	PJ Shaw	243	0.5	+0.5
Majority			15,285	33.0	+2.6
Turnout			46,285	77.8	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Goodhart	24,903	56.3	-1.1
	Liberal	C. Darracot	11,038	23.8	-2.8
	Labour	K. Ritchie	8,038	17.4	+1.9
Majority			13,464	30.4
Turnout				73.6	+3.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Beckenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Goodhart	23,606	57.4
	Liberal	C. Forrest	10,936	26.6
	Labour	J. Dowd	6,386	15.5
	BNP	R. Younger	203	0.5
Majority			12,670	30.8
Turnout				70.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London