Kensington and Chelsea (UK Parliament constituency)

Kensington and Chelsea
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Kensington and Chelsea in Greater London for the 2005 general election.
County	Greater London
1997–2010
Replaced by	Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham
Created from	Kensington & Chelsea

Kensington and Chelsea was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom 1997–2010. It was one of the safest Conservative seats in the United Kingdom, and since its creation in 1997 became a prestigious seat, with MP Alan Clark, the former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo and the former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind all holding the seat for the Conservatives. The seat was abolished for the 2010 election, when the 1974–1997 Kensington constituency was recreated and Chelsea formed a new constituency together with the southern part of the former Hammersmith and Fulham constituency, called the Chelsea and Fulham constituency.

Boundaries

The constituency covered the central and southern portions of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, covering the centres of both Kensington and Chelsea. This covered the following wards of the borough:

Abingdon, Brompton, Campden, Cheyne, Church, Courtfield, Earls Court, Hans Town, Holland, Norland, North Stanley, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital, South Stanley.

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in North London, the Boundary Commission created two new constituencies based on the existing Kensington and Chelsea constituency, which were first contested at the 2010 election. The northern section (Earls Court, South Kensington, Kensington High Street and Holland Park) was combined with the southern section of the previous Regent's Park and Kensington North constituency (including Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill) to create a new Kensington constituency, whilst the southern part (Chelsea) was combined with the southern half of the former Hammersmith and Fulham constituency to create a new Chelsea and Fulham constituency.

History

Constituents include the Chelsea pensioners.

The constituency was created for the 1997 general election. Notional calculations indicated that it would be one of the safest Conservative seats in the country and so the Conservative nomination was much sought. In the run-up to the 1997 election the nomination was initially won by Nicholas Scott, MP for the previous Chelsea constituency, but following allegations of alcoholism he was deselected.

The nomination was subsequently secured by Alan Clark, the former minister and diarist who was seeking to return to the Commons after standing down at the 1992 general election. Clark was elected, but died of brain cancer in 1999 after only two years in office. As a safe Conservative seat in London there was much speculation that former Defence Secretary and widely predicted future Conservative leader Michael Portillo would seek to return to the Commons after losing the Enfield Southgate constituency in the 1997 election. Portillo was elected in the subsequent by-election and became Shadow Chancellor but his subsequent career stalled and he crashed out of the 2001 Conservative Party leadership election and returned to the backbenches. In 2003 he announced his intention to retire from politics at the next general election to pursue a career in the media. Another former Cabinet Minister, who had also lost his seat in 1997, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, was nominated for the seat in Portillo's stead and elected at the 2005 general election.

In October 2007, amid speculation that then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown was about to call a snap general election, former Labour minister Tony Benn announced that he wanted to come out of retirement and return to the Commons, offering himself to the Kensington and Chelsea constituency Labour Party to challenge Malcolm Rifkind.^[1]^[2] Ultimately, however, no election was held that year, and the Kensington and Chelsea seat was abolished for the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

	Member ^[3]	Party
1997	Alan Clark	Conservative
1999 by-election	Michael Portillo	Conservative
2005	Malcolm Rifkind	Conservative
2010	constituency abolished: see Kensington & Chelsea and Fulham

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Kensington and Chelsea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	18,144	57.9	+3.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jennifer Kingsley	5,726	18.3	+2.5
	Labour	Catherine Atkinson	5,521	17.6	−5.6
	Green	Julia Stephenson	1,342	4.3	+0.2
	UKIP	Mildred Eiloart	395	1.3	−0.2
	Independent	Alfred Bovill	107	0.3	N/A
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Eddie Adams	101	0.3	N/A
Majority			12,418	39.6
Turnout			31,336	50.0	+6.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

General Election 2001: Kensington and Chelsea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	15,270	54.5	+0.8
	Labour	Simon Stanley	6,499	23.2	–4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Kishwer Falkner	4,416	15.8	+0.5
	Green	Julia Stephenson	1,158	4.1	N/A
	UKIP	Damian Hockney	416	1.5	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Josephine Quintavalle	179	0.6	N/A
	Jam Wrestling	Ginger Crab	100	0.4	N/A
Majority			8,771	31.3
Turnout			28,038	43.3	–11.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.8

Elections in the 1990s

1999 by-election: Kensington and Chelsea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	11,004	56.4	+2.8
	Labour	Robert Atkinson	4,298	22.0	–5.9
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Woodthorpe Browne	1,831	9.4	–5.9
	Pro-Euro Conservative	John Stevens	740	3.8	N/A
	UKIP	Damian Hockney	450	2.3	+0.9
	Green	Hugo Charlton	446	2.3	N/A
	Democratic Party	Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford	182	0.9	N/A
	Legalise Cannabis	Colin Paisley	141	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Dr. Michael Irwin	97	0.5	N/A
	UK Pensioners Party	Paul Oliver	75	0.4	–0.1
	Referendum	Stephen Scott-Fawcett	57	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Louise Hodges	48	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	Gerard 'Ged' Valente	35	0.2	–0.1
	People's Net Dream Ticket Party	Lisa Lovebucket	26	0.1	N/A
	Environmentalist	John Davies	24	0.1	N/A
	Equal Parenting Party	Peter May	24	0.1	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope	20	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Tonysamuelsondotcom	15	0.1	N/A
Majority			6,706	34.4
Turnout			19,513	29.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Kensington and Chelsea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alan Clark	19,887	53.6	–14.6
	Labour	Robert Atkinson	10,368	27.9	+11.3
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Woodthorpe Browne	5,668	15.3	+2.1
	UKIP	Andrew Ellis-Jones	540	1.3
	Teddy Bear Alliance	Edward Bear	218	0.6
	United Kingdom Pensioners Party	Paul Oliver	176	0.5
	Natural Law	Mrs. Susan J. Hamza	122	0.3
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Paul Sullivan	65	0.2
	Independent	Pete Parliament	44	0.1
Majority			9,519	25.7
Turnout			37.088		54.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-12.9

References

BBC News (2005). Election 2005 - Kensington & Chelsea. Retrieved May 3, 2005.

↑ "I want to be an MP again - Benn". BBC News online. 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
↑ Fred Attewill (2007-10-04). "Benn: I want to return to parliament". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)

Historic constituencies in London

1983	Barking Battersea Beckenham Bethnal Green and Stepney Bexleyheath Bow and Poplar Brent East Brent North Brent South Brentford and Isleworth Carshalton and Wallington Chelsea Chingford Chipping Barnet Chislehurst City of London and Westminster South Croydon Central Croydon North East Croydon North West Croydon South Dagenham Dulwich Ealing Acton Ealing North Ealing Southall Edmonton Eltham Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Crayford Feltham and Heston Finchley Fulham Greenwich Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith Hampstead and Highgate Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon North Hendon South Holborn and St Pancras Hornchurch Hornsey and Wood Green Ilford North Ilford South Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington Kingston-upon-Thames Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West Leyton Mitcham and Morden Newham North East Newham North West Newham South Norwood Old Bexley and Sidcup Orpington Peckham Putney Ravensbourne Richmond and Barnes Romford Ruislip-Northwood Southwark and Bermondsey Streatham Surbiton Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Upminster Uxbridge Vauxhall Walthamstow Wanstead and Woodford Westminster North Wimbledon Woolwich

1997	Barking Battersea Beckenham Bethnal Green and Bow Bexleyheath and Crayford Brent East Brent North Brent South Brentford and Isleworth Bromley and Chislehurst Camberwell and Peckham Carshalton and Wallington Chingford and Woodford Green Chipping Barnet Cities of London and Westminster Croydon Central Croydon North Croydon South Dagenham Dulwich and West Norwood Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush Ealing North Ealing Southall East Ham Edmonton Eltham Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Thamesmead Feltham and Heston Finchley and Golders Green Greenwich and Woolwich Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith and Fulham Hampstead and Highgate Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon Holborn and St Pancras Hornchurch Hornsey and Wood Green Ilford North Ilford South Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington and Chelsea Kingston and Surbiton Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West Leyton and Wanstead Mitcham and Morden North Southwark and Bermondsey Old Bexley and Sidcup Orpington Poplar and Canning Town Putney Regent's Park and Kensington North Richmond Park Romford Ruislip-Northwood Streatham Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Upminster Uxbridge Vauxhall Walthamstow West Ham Wimbledon

Coordinates: 51°29′38″N 0°11′10″W / 51.494°N 0.186°W / 51.494; -0.186

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