Twickenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Twickenham
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Twickenham in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	79,172 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1918 (1918)
Member of Parliament	Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Twickenham is a borough 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.

Boundaries

Hampton Court Palace

Twickenham constituency within the county of Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1918-45

Twickenham constituency within the county of Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1945-50

The constituency covers the western part of the London Borough of Richmond, i.e., that part of the borough on the north bank of the River Thames (although the river is on a north-south axis at this point). It includes the town of Twickenham, as well as the Hampton, Teddington and Whitton areas. It also includes Hampton Court Palace and Bushy Park, and the Rugby Football Union's ground, Twickenham Stadium.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England has not recommended any changes to the boundaries of this constituency. The Commission received only eleven representations following the publication of their original proposals, of which ten were in support.

The electoral wards forming the constituency are:

• Fulwell and Hampton Hill, Hampton, Hampton North, Hampton Wick, Heathfield, St Margarets and North Twickenham, South Twickenham, Teddington, Twickenham Riverside, West Twickenham, Whitton.

History

Twickenham was a safe seat for the Conservative Party for many years, but the Liberal Democrats gained the seat at the 1997 general election. Its current MP, Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, has increased his victory margins in each of the three general elections since, and the seat is one of very few in Britain that gave the Liberal Democrats a majority of votes in both the 2005 and 2010 elections. Cable has been Secretary of State for Business since 2010.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	William Joynson-Hicks	Coalition Conservative
	1922		Conservative
	1929 by-election	John Ferguson	Conservative
	1932 by-election	Hylton Murray-Philipson	Conservative
	1934 by-election	Alfred Critchley	Conservative
	1935	Edward Keeling	Conservative
	1955 by-election	Gresham Cooke	Conservative
	1970	Toby Jessel	Conservative
	1997	Rt Hon Vince Cable	Liberal Democrat

Election results

Elections in the 1920s

Twickenham by-election, 8th August 1929
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir John Ferguson	14,705	47.7	−0.8
	Labour	T.J. Mason	14,202	46.1	+11.3
	Liberal	F.G. Paterson	1,920	6.2	−10.5
Majority			503	1.6	−12.1
Turnout				49.5	−20.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.6

Elections in the 1930s

General election, 1931: Twickenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir John Ferguson	39,161	74.0	+26.3
	Labour Co-op	Percy Holman	13,793	26.0	−20.1
Majority			25,398	48.0	+46.4
Turnout			42,954	71.3	+21.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+23.2

Twickenham by-election, 16th September 1932
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hylton Murray-Philipson	21,688	56.2	−17.8
	Labour Co-op	Percy Holman	16,881	43.8	+17.8
Majority			4,807	12.4	−35.6
Turnout			38,569	51.9	−19.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−17.8

Twickenham by-election, 22nd June 1934
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alfred Critchley	23,395	56.1	−0.1
	Labour Co-op	Percy Holman	19,890	43.9	+0.1
Majority			5,505	12.2	−0.2
Turnout			43,285	55.5	+3.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.1

Elections in the 1950s

Twickenham by-election, 25th January 1955
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gresham Cooke	23,075	64.0	−1.9
	Labour	R. P. Pitman	12,953	36.0	−1.9
Majority			10,122	28.1	−3.9
Turnout			36,028
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.9

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Twickenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Vincent Cable	26,237	45.1
	Conservative	Toby Jessel	21,956	37.8
	Labour	E Tutchell	9,065	15.6
	Independent English Conservative and Referendum	J Harrison	589	1.0
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	T Haggar	155	0.3
	Natural Law	A Hardy	142	0.2
Majority			4,281	7.3%
Turnout			58,144	79.3%
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Twickenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Vincent Cable	24,344	48.7	+3.6
	Conservative	Nick Longworth	16,689	33.4	-4.3
	Labour	Dean Rogers	6,903	13.8	-1.8
	Green	Judy Maciejowska	1,423	2.8	N/A
	UKIP	Ray Hollebone	579	1.2	N/A
Majority			7,655	15.3
Turnout			49,938	66.4	-12.6
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

General Election 2005: Twickenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Vincent Cable	26,696	51.6	+2.9
	Conservative	Paul Maynard	16,731	32.4	−1.0
	Labour	Brian Whitington	5,868	11.4	−2.4
	Green	Henry Gower	1,445	2.8	0.0
	UKIP	Douglas Orchard	766	1.5	+0.3
	Independent	Brian Gibert	117	0.2	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	George Weiss	64	0.1	N/A
Majority			9,965	19.3
Turnout			51,687	71.8	+5.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+2.0

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Twickenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Vince Cable	32,483	54.4	+2.7
	Conservative	Deborah Thomas	20,343	34.1	+1.7
	Labour	Brian Tomlinson	4,583	7.7	−3.7
	UKIP	Brian Gilbert	868	1.5	+0.0
	Green	Stephen Roest	674	1.1	−1.7
	BNP	Chris Hurst	654	1.1	N/A
	Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality	Harry Cole	76	0.1	N/A
	Magna Carta	Paul Armstrong	40	0.1	N/A
Majority			12,140	20.3
Turnout			59,721	74.8	+2.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+0.5

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London
• Twickenham by-election, 1929
• Twickenham by-election, 1932
• Twickenham by-election, 1934
• Twickenham by-election, 1955

Sources

• Boundary Commission for England
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.