Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Coordinates: 52°01′37″N 0°22′59″W / 52.027°N 0.383°W
 |
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| Mid Bedfordshire | |
|---|---|
| County constituency | |
| for the House of Commons | |
 Boundary of Mid Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire. |
|
 Location of Bedfordshire within England. |
|
| County | Bedfordshire |
| Electorate | 76,381 (December 2010)[1] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1918 |
| Member of Parliament | Nadine Dorries (Conservative) |
| Number of members | One |
| Overlaps | |
| European Parliament constituency | East of England |
Mid Bedfordshire 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 has long been a safe Conservative seat, and Nadine Dorries has been the MP since 2005.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
Following the latest review of parliamentary representation in Bedfordshire, the Boundary Commission for England made only minor changes to the existing constituencies.[2]
The Mid Bedfordshire seat has been formed from electoral wards under the Borough of Bedford and Central Bedfordshire.
- From Bedford Borough Council: Turvey, Wilshamstead and Wootton.
- From Central Bedfordshire Council: Ampthill, Aspley Guise, Barton-le-Clay, Clifton and Meppershall, Cranfield, Flitton, Greenfield and Pulloxhill, Flitwick East, Flitwick West, Harlington, Houghton, Haynes, Southill and Old Warden, Marston, Maulden and Clophill, Shefford, Campton and Gravenhurst, Shillington, Streatley, Stondon and Henlow Camp, Silsoe, Toddington, Westoning and Tingrith and Woburn.
These are the former South Bedfordshire and Mid Bedfordshire council wards that were used to create the constituency at the most recent boundary review. Since the creation of the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority in 2009, different wards have been used for the election of local councillors.
[edit] History
The seat has elected Conservative MPs since 1931. It was held from 1983 to 1997 by the former Attorney General Sir Nicholas Lyell, who then transferred to the newly created seat of North East Bedfordshire; his old seat was won by Jonathan Sayeed, a former MP in Bristol in the 1980s. Sayeed was forced to retire in 2005 due to ill health, following a row over allegations he had profited from private tours of Parliament and a resulting deselection attempt by the constituency party. Nadine Dorries has held the seat since.
[edit] Members of Parliament
| Election | Member [3] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Maximilian Townley | Conservative | |
| 1922 | Frederick Linfield | Liberal | |
| 1924 | William Warner | Conservative | |
| 1929 | Milner Gray | Liberal | |
| 1931 | Alan Lennox-Boyd | Conservative | |
| 1960 by-election | Stephen Hastings | Conservative | |
| 1983 | significant boundary changes | ||
| 1983 | Nicholas Lyell | Conservative | |
| 1997 | significant boundary changes | ||
| 1997 | Jonathan Sayeed | Conservative | |
| 2005 | Nadine Dorries | Conservative | |
[edit] Elections
[edit] Elections in the 2010s
| General Election 2010: Mid Bedfordshire[4] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Nadine Dorries | 28,815 | 52.5 | +5.9% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Linda Jack | 13,663 | 24.9 | +1.4 | |
| Labour | David Reeves | 8,108 | 14.8 | -7.7 | |
| UKIP | Bill Hall | 2,826 | 5.1 | +2.4 | |
| Green | Malcolm Bailey | 773 | 1.4 | -1.2 | |
| English Democrats | John Cooper | 712 | 1.3 | N/A | |
| Majority | 15,152 | 27.6 | |||
| Turnout | 54,897 | 72.2 | +3.5 | ||
[edit] Elections in the 2000s
| General Election 2005: Mid Bedfordshire | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Nadine Dorries | 23,345 | 46.3 | −1.1 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Mark Chapman | 11,990 | 23.8 | +4.1 | |
| Labour | Martin Lindsay | 11,351 | 22.5 | −7.6 | |
| UKIP | Richard Joselyn | 1,372 | 2.7 | 0.0 | |
| Green | Ben Foley | 1,292 | 2.6 | N/A | |
| Veritas | Howard Martin | 769 | 1.5 | N/A | |
| Independent | Saqhib Ali | 301 | 0.6 | N/A | |
| Majority | 11,355 | 22.5 | |||
| Turnout | 50,420 | 68.3 | +2.4 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | −2.6 | |||
| General Election 2001: Mid Bedfordshire[5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Jonathan Sayeed | 22,109 | 47.4 | +1.4 | |
| Labour | James Valentine | 14,043 | 30.1 | -2.4 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Graham Mabbutt | 9,205 | 19.7 | +2.9 | |
| UKIP | Chris Laurence | 1,281 | 2.7 | N/A | |
| Majority | 8,066 | 17.3 | |||
| Turnout | 46,638 | 65.9 | -13.1 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | 1.9 | |||
[edit] Elections in the 1990s
| General Election 1997: Mid Bedfordshire[6] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Jonathan Sayeed | 24,176 | 46.0 | -16.4 | |
| Labour | Neil Mallett | 17,086 | 32.5 | +12.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Tim J. Hill | 8,823 | 16.8 | +1.0 | |
| Referendum Party | Mrs. Shirley C. Marler | 2,257 | 4.3 | ||
| Natural Law | Marek J. Lorys | 174 | 0.3 | ||
| Turnout | 52,534 | 78.9 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | -14.6%[7] | |||
| General Election 1992: Mid Bedfordshire[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Nicholas Lyell | 40,230 | 58.2 | -0.8 | |
| Labour | RA Clayton | 15,092 | 21.8 | +3.8 | |
| Liberal Democrat | NC Hills | 11,957 | 17.3 | -5.7 | |
| Liberal | DP Cottier | 1,582 | 2.3 | +2.3 | |
| Natural Law | MJ Lorys | 279 | 0.4 | +0.4 | |
| Majority | 25,138 | 36.4 | +0.3 | ||
| Turnout | 69,140 | 84.4 | +5.7 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | -2.3 | |||
[edit] Elections in the 1940s
| General Election 1945: Bedfordshire Mid Electorate 51,465, Turnout 73.19%, Voters 37,668 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Alan Lennox-Boyd | 13,954 | 37.0 | ||
| Labour | W Howell | 12,073 | 32.1 | ||
| Liberal | E Kenneth Martell | 11,641 | 30.9 | ||
| Majority | 1,881 | 5.0 | |||
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ Boundary Commission for England News Release (download)
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)[self-published source?][better source needed]
- ^ http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/images/Mid%20Beds%20Statement%20of%20Nominations_tcm5-27596.pdf
- ^ BBC Vote 2001 Results
- ^ election.demon.co.uk 1997 General Election Results 1997
- ^ The swing was calculated by the BBC compared with a notional 1992 result. BBC Election '97
- ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
