Watford (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Watford Borough constituency |
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| Watford shown within Hertfordshire, and Hertfordshire shown within England | |
| Created: | 1885 |
| MP: | Claire Ward |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Hertfordshire |
| EP constituency: | East of England |
Watford 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. Prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the 3-seat constituency of Hertfordshire.
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[edit] Boundaries
The constituency comprises the whole of Watford Borough Council, together with five wards from Three Rivers District. Two of the Three Rivers wards, Carpenders Park and Oxhey Hall, are to the south of Watford town and include mostly prosperous commuter villages. The remaining three, Abbots Langley, Langleybury and Leavesden, are to the north of Watford and include the large village of Abbots Langley which is more mixed in character. There was a considerable Liberal Democrat advance into second place in 2005, taking many votes off Labour with the Tories not too far behind; it is now a genuine three-way marginal seat.
[edit] Members of Parliament
[edit] Election results
| Confirmed candidates for the next UK general election [1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Sal Brinton | ||||
| Conservative | Richard Harrington | ||||
| UK Independence | Barry Newton | ||||
| Labour | Claire Ward | ||||
| General Election 2005: Watford | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Claire Ward | 16,575 | 33.6 | −11.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Sal Brinton | 15,427 | 31.2 | +13.8 | |
| Conservative | Ali Miraj | 14,634 | 29.6 | −3.7 | |
| Green | Steve Rackett | 1,466 | 3.0 | +1.1 | |
| UK Independence | Kenneth Wight | 1,292 | 2.6 | +1.4 | |
| Majority | 1,148 | 2.3 | |||
| Turnout | 49,394 | 64.8 | +3.7 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | −12.8 | |||
| General Election 2001: Watford | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Claire Ward | 20,992 | 45.3 | N/A | |
| Conservative | Michael McManus | 15,437 | 33.3 | -1.5 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Duncan Hames | 8,088 | 17.4 | +0.7 | |
| Green | Denise Kingsley | 900 | 1.9 | N/A | |
| UK Independence | Edmund Stewart-Mole | 535 | 1.2 | N/A | |
| Socialist Alliance | Jon Berry | 420 | 0.9 | N/A | |
| Majority | 5,555 | 12.0 | |||
| Turnout | 46,372 | 61.1 | -13.5 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1997: Watford | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Claire Ward | 25,109 | 45.3 | +11.3 | |
| Conservative | R Gordon | 19,227 | 34.8 | -13.3 | |
| Liberal Democrat | A Canning | 9,272 | 16.8 | +0.0 | |
| Referendum Party | P Roe | 1,484 | 2.7 | N/A | |
| Natural Law | L Davis | 234 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| Majority | 5,792 | 10.5 | |||
| Turnout | 74.6 | ||||
| General Election 1992: Watford | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Tristan Garel-Jones | 29,072 | 48.8 | ||
| Labour | M Jackson | 19,482 | 32.7 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | Mark Oaten | 10,231 | 17.2 | ||
| Green | J Hywel-Davies | 566 | 1.0 | N/A | |
| Natural Law | L Davis | 176 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Majority | 9,590 | 16.1 | |||
| Turnout | 82.3 | ||||
| General Election 1987: Watford | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Tristan Garel-Jones | 27,912 | 48.7 | ||
| Labour | M Jackson | 16,176 | 28.2 | ||
| Social Democrat | F Beckett | 13,202 | 23.1 | ||
| Majority | 11,736 | 20.5 | |||
| Turnout | 77.9 | ||||
[edit] Prospective Candidates for the Next Election
In July 2007 former candidate Ali Miraj, who had previously been a candidate for Aberavon in 2001, was dropped from the candidates list by the Conservative party after he complained about David Cameron's leadership style and allegedly after demanding a peerage.[2][3]
His former campaign manager Ian Oakley, who had been a candidate for Newport East in 2001, was selected for Watford in the first Conservative Party "Open Primary" in November 2006. In July 2008, Oakley, stood down after being arrested for conducting a campaign of harassment against the local Liberal Democrats,[4][5] for which he was given an 18 week suspended jail sentence and a 12 month supervision order on 13 Oct 2008.[6]
In December 2008 the Watford Conservative Association selected their new candidate, Richard Harrington.[7] Harrington is a treasurer of the Conservative Party and chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Watford, UKPollingReport
- ^ BBC: Cameron critic axed as MP hopeful
- ^ Channel 4 News interview transcript
- ^ Telegraph: Arrested Conservative candidate for Watford stands down
- ^ Police charge Oakley
- ^ Watford Observer - Tory Oakley escapes jail
- ^ a b Harrison, John (2008-12-17). "Tory candidate: 'I'm confident of victory'". Watford Observer. http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/search/3985475.Tory_candidate___I_m_confident_of_victory_/. Retrieved on 2009-04-08.
