Dartford (UK Parliament constituency)

Dartford
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dartford in Kent.
Location of Kent within England.
Electorate	74,756 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Dartford
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Gareth Johnson (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Dartford is a county 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.

It was the first seat contested by Margaret Thatcher (then Margaret Roberts), at the 1950 and 1951 general elections.

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England has made major changes to the existing constituency boundaries as a consequence of population changes. The existing Dartford constituency has been maintained, with the following electoral wards used in its formation:

• The entire borough of Dartford
• The Sevenoaks district ward of Hartley and Hodsoll Street

Constituency profile

As its name suggests, the main settlement in the constituency is the town of Dartford, but it also includes a number of other towns and villages, including Swanscombe, Longfield, Greenhithe, and Wilmington. These all add up to create a diverse constituency which covers both urban and rural areas.

The population of the constituency currently stands at around 90,000 people, around 8,000 of whom live in the borough of Sevenoaks, with the remainder living in the borough of Dartford. The constituency is located on the border with the London borough of Bexley, with whom at one time it shared an MP.

Members of Parliament

Since 1945, Dartford has been a key Labour-Conservative marginal. It is one of Britain's few bellwether seats: since 1964 the party winning the seat has gone on to form the government. The current MP is the Conservative Gareth Johnson, elected in 2010.

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir William Hart Dyke	Conservative
	1906	James Rowlands	Liberal
	Jan 1910	William Foot Mitchell	Conservative
	Dec 1910	James Rowlands	Liberal
	1918		Coalition Liberal
	1920 by-election	John Edmund Mills	Labour
	1922	George William Symonds Jarrett	National Liberal
	1923	John Edmund Mills	Labour
	1924	Angus McDonnell	Conservative
	1929	John Edmund Mills	Labour
	1931	Frank Edward Clarke	Conservative
	1938 by-election	Janet Adamson	Labour
1945		constituency split, with half becoming the new Bexley seat
	1945	Norman Dodds	Labour Co-operative
	1955	Sydney Irving	Labour Co-operative
	1970	Peter Trew	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Sydney Irving	Labour Co-operative
	1979	Bob Dunn	Conservative
	1997	Howard Stoate	Labour
	2010	Gareth Johnson	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Dartford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gareth Johnson	24,428	48.8	+7.6
	Labour	John Adams	13,800	27.6	-15.5
	Liberal Democrat	James Willis	7,361	14.7	4.6
	English Democrats	Gary Rogers	2,178	4.3	+4.3
	UKIP	Richard Palmer	1,842	3.7	+0.7
	Independent	Stephane Tindame	264	0.5	+0.5
	Fancy Dress Party	Ernie Crockford	207	0.4	+0.7
Majority			10,628	21.2
Turnout			50,080	65.7	+2.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	11.6

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Dartford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Howard Stoate	19,909	42.6	-5.4
	Conservative	Gareth Johnson	19,203	41.1	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Bucklitsch	5,036	10.8	+2.3
	UKIP	Mark Croucher	1,407	3.0	+0.8
	New England	Michael Tibby	1,224	2.6	+2.6
Majority			706	1.5
Turnout			46,779	63.2	1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.9

General Election 2001: Dartford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Howard Stoate	21,466	48.0	-0.6
	Conservative	Bob Dunn	18,160	40.6	+0.3
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Morgan	3,781	8.5	-0.9
	UKIP	Mark Croucher	989	2.2	N/A
	Fancy Dress Party	Keith Davenport	344	0.8	+0.3
Majority			3,306	7.4
Turnout			44,740	61.9	-12.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Dartford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Howard Stoate	25,278	48.6	+12.4
	Conservative	Bob Dunn	20,950	40.3	-10.6
	Liberal Democrat	Dorothy Webb	4,872	9.4	-2.8
	BNP	Paul McHale	424	0.8	N/A
	Fancy Dress Party	Peter Homden	287	0.5	+0.1
	Christian Democrat	James Pollitt	228	0.4	N/A
Majority			4,328	8.3
Turnout			52,039	74.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Dartford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bob Dunn	31,194	51.9	−1.6
	Labour	Howard Stoate	20,880	34.7	+7.2
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Bryden	7,584	12.6	−5.6
	Fancy Dress Party	A Munro	262	0.4	−0.4
	Natural Law	Angela Holland	241	0.4	N/A
Majority			10,314	17.2	−8.9
Turnout			60,161	83.1	+4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.4

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent