Chesterfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Chesterfield
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Chesterfield in Derbyshire for the 2010 general election.
Location of Derbyshire within England.
County	Derbyshire
Electorate	72,866 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Chesterfield
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Toby Perkins (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Derbyshire East
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East Midlands

Chesterfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The best-known MP was Tony Benn from 1984 to 2001. The current MP is Toby Perkins of the Labour Party, first elected at the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

It includes most of the town of Chesterfield, including the Church of St Mary and All Saints with its famous 'crooked spire', and borders the constituencies of Bolsover and Derbyshire North East.

The current boundaries centre on Chesterfield itself, with the areas around Staveley, and Barrow Hill, falling within the neighbouring North East Derbyshire seat. Under the boundary changes necessary to accommodate the new Mid Derbyshire constituency, Chesterfield is only moderately effected, losing New Whittington to North East Derbyshire but otherwise keeping its shape.

History

Chesterfield was once a Labour Party stronghold. The former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn held the seat from a by-election in 1984 until his retirement at the 2001 general election (to "spend more time involved in politics"). Paul Holmes gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats at the 2001 general election, the party's first seat in the East Midlands in the House of Commons, but narrowly lost the seat in 2010 to the Labour candidate Toby Perkins; one of only three seats the Labour Party gained in the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1885	Alfred Barnes	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	Thomas Bayley	Liberal
	1906	James Haslam	Lib-Lab
	1910		Labour
	1913	Barnet Kenyon	Lib-Lab
	1918		Liberal
	1929	George Benson	Labour
	1931	Roger Conant	Conservative
	1935	George Benson	Labour
	1964	Eric Varley	Labour
	1984	Tony Benn	Labour
	2001	Paul Holmes	Liberal Democrat
	2010	Toby Perkins	Labour

Election Results

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election 2010 Electorate: 72,866 Turnout: 45,839 (63.8%) +3.8		Labour gain from Liberal Democrat Majority: 549 (1.2%) N/A Swing: 3.8% from Lib Dem to Lab		Toby Perkins	Labour	17,891	39.0	-1.6
				Paul Holmes	Liberal Democrat	17,342	37.8	-9.1
				Carolyn Abbott	Conservative	7,214	15.7	+7.5
				David Phillips	UKIP	1,432	3.1	+0.9
				Ian Jerram	English Democrats	1,213	2.6	+0.8
				Duncan Kerr	Green	600	1.3	N/A
				John "Noneoftheabove" Daramy	Independent	147	0.3	N/A
General Election 2005 Turnout: 44,121 (59.6%) -1.1		Liberal Democrat Majority: 3,045 (6.9%) +1.1 Swing: +0.6% from Lab to Lib Dem		Paul Holmes	Liberal Democrat	20,875	47.3	-0.5
				Simon Rich	Labour	17,830	40.4	-1.6
				Mark Kreling	Conservative	3,605	8.2	+0.1
				Christopher Brady	UKIP	997	2.3	N/A
				Ian Jerram	English Democrats	814	1.8	N/A
General Election 2001 Turnout: 44,441 (60.7%) -10.2		Liberal Democrat gain from Labour Majority: 2,586 (5.8%) N/A Swing: 8.6% from Lab to Lib Dem		Paul Holmes	Liberal Democrat	21,249	47.8	+8.3
				Reg Race	Labour	18,663	42.0	-8.8
				Simon Hitchcock	Conservative	3,613	8.1	-1.1
				Jeannie Robinson	Socialist Alliance	437	1.0	N/A
				Bill Harrison	Socialist Labour	295	0.7	N/A'
				Christopher Rawson	Independent	184	0.4	N/A
General Election 1997 Turnout: 51,389 (78.0%)		Labour hold Majority: 5,775 N/A		Tony Benn	Labour	26,105	50.8	+3.5
				Tony Rogers	Liberal Democrat	20,330	39.6	+3.8
				Martin Potter	Conservative	4,752	9.2	-7.7
				Norman Scarth	Independent	202	0.4	N/A
General Election 1992 Turnout: 55,981 (78.1%) +1.4		Labour hold Majority: 6,414 (11.5%) -4.4		Tony Benn	Labour	26,461	47.3	+1.8
				AH Rogers	Liberal Democrat	20,047	35.8	+6.2
				PG Lewis	Conservative	9,473	16.9	-8.0
General Election 1987 Turnout: 53,959 (76.7%) -0.2		Labour hold Majority: 8,577 (15.9%) +4.1		Tony Benn	Labour	24,532	44.9	-1.6
				Tony Rogers	Liberal	15,955	29.6	-5.1
				RP Grant	Conservative	13,472	25.0	+9.8
Chesterfield by-election, 1984 Turnout: 52,992 (76.9%) +4.3		Labour hold Majority: 6,264 (11.8%) -3.8		Tony Benn	Labour	24,633	46.5	-1.6
				Max Payne	Liberal	18,369	34.7	+15.1
				Nick Bourne	Conservative	8,028	15.2	-17.3
				Bill Maynard	Independent	1,355	2.6	N/A
				Screaming Lord Sutch	Monster Raving Loony	178	0.3	N/A
				David Bentley	Independent	116	0.2	N/A
				John Davey	Independent	83	0.3	N/A
				Thomas Layton	Independent	46	0.1	N/A
				Helen Anscombe	Independent	34	0.1	N/A
				Jitendra Bardwaj	Independent	33	0.1	N/A
				Donald Butler	Independent	24	0.1	N/A
				Paul Nicholls-Jones	Independent	22	0.0	N/A
				Sid Shaw	Independent	20	0.1	N/A
				Christopher Hill	Independent	17	0.0	N/A
				Giancarlo Piccaro	Independent	15	0.0	N/A
				David Cahill	Independent	12	0.0	N/A
				John Connell	Independent	7	0.0	N/A
General Election 1983 Turnout: 49,704 (72.6%) -0.8		Labour hold Majority: 7,763 (15.6%) -9.5		Eric Varley	Labour	23,881	48.1	-9.3
				Nick Bourne	Conservative	16,118	32.4	+0.2
				Max Payne	Liberal	9,705	19.5	+9.1

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	31,049	57.4
	Conservative	S. Hill	17,445	32.2
	Liberal	M. Payne	5,617	10.4
Majority			13,604	25.1
Turnout				73.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	30,953	59.9
	Conservative	J. D. Taylor	13,393	25.9
	Liberal	M. W. Brown	7,349	14.2
Majority			17,560	34.0
Turnout				72.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	31,040	54.8
	Conservative	J. D. Taylor	15,644	27.6
	Liberal	M. W. Brown	9,937	17.6
Majority			15,396	27.2
Turnout				80.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	30,386	59.0
	Conservative	J. C. Ramsden	16,217	31.5
	Liberal	T. D. Bamford	4,891	9.5
Majority			14,169	27.5
Turnout				72.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	31,542	61.6
	Conservative	A. T. Hale	13,443	26.3
	Liberal	T. D. Bamford	6,227	12.2
Majority			18,099	35.3
Turnout				76.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Varley	29,452	56.5
	Conservative	W. G. Blake	14,944	28.7
	Liberal	D. A. McKie	7,738	14.8
Majority			14,508	27.8
Turnout				78.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Benson	30,534	56.6
	Conservative	J. A. Lemkin	17,084	31.7
	Liberal	G. R. Smedley-Stevenson	6,360	11.8
Majority			13,450	24.9
Turnout				82.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Benson	29,602	57.7
	Liberal National	F. Hadfield	21,748	42.4
Majority			7,854	15.3
Turnout				79.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Benson	34,753	63.7
	Liberal National	J. F. Nash	19,776	36.3
Majority			14,977	27.5
Turnout				84.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Benson	33,914	60.8
	Liberal National	Andrew Cavendish	17,231	30.9
	Liberal	J. O'Neill	4,052	7.3
	Communist	B. Barker	554	1.0
Majority			16,683	29.9
Turnout				87.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Chesterfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Benson	29,459	62.8
	Liberal National	Marquess of Hartington	17,424	37.2
Majority			12,035	25.7
Turnout			46,883	77.4
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• Chesterfield by-election, 1913
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Derbyshire

Sources

• Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
• http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)