Watford (UK Parliament constituency)

Watford
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Watford in Hertfordshire.
Location of Hertfordshire within England.
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	80,939 (December 2010)^[1]
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Richard Harrington (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hertfordshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Watford is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Richard Harrington, a member of the Conservative Party.^{[n 2]}

History

Before the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the area was part of the three seat constituency of Hertfordshire. Upon this act, it took up the western division of the county, however later seats such as South West Hertfordshire, established in 1950 have reduced its reach, as settlements in those areas, and Watford itself, have grown.

Political history

The seat has been a bellwether of the national result since February 1974. Watford saw considerable Liberal Democrat opposition in 2005, achieving second place, taking many Labour votes with the Conservative candidate close behind.^[2]

Before the 2010 general election it was a three-way marginal seat in which local Tories, Labour supporters and Liberal Democrats aimed to garner support for their candidate. This election in Watford was won by Richard Harrington (Con) with 34.9% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats narrowly missed out on the seat with 32.4% of the vote and the defeat for Labour's candidate, Claire Ward, was a pronounced change with 26.7% of the vote.^[3]

Prominent frontbenchers

Dennis Herbert was Deputy Speaker from 1931-1943.

Major John Freeman was only a third-tier (junior) minister in the War Office as MP. His later unusually prominent positions in diplomacy led to his being appointed a member of the Privy Council and thereby being Rt Hon as of 1966.

Tristan Garel-Jones was Minister for Europe for three years of the Major ministry.

Both Herbert and Garel-Jones opted as peers in later life to use Watford as the territorial designation of their peerages.

Boundaries

1885-1918: Parts of the Sessional Division of Watford and Dacorum.

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Bushey, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, and Watford, and part of the Rural District of Watford.

1950-1983: The Municipal Borough of Watford.

1983-1997: The Borough of Watford, the District of Three Rivers wards of Abbots Langley and Leavesden, and the City of St Albans wards of Park Street and St Stephens.

1997-present: The Borough of Watford, and the District of Three Rivers wards of Abbots Langley, Carpenders Park, Langleybury, Leavesden, and Oxhey Hall.

The constituency comprises the whole of the Borough of Watford, 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, elevated, commuter villages. The remaining three, Abbots Langley, Langleybury and Leavesden, are to the north of Watford, the first of which is a large village, and due to its relative remoteness from the City of London is mixed in character and levels of income.^[4]

Constituency profile

Watford has a considerable service sector economy, with several notable headquarters, and engineering, trade-craft and distribution in its economy, however is also a commuter town to the City of London. British Waterways, J D Wetherspoon, Camelot Group, Iveco, manufacturers of commercial vehicles; part of Balfour Beatty; Bathstore, the largest bathroom retailer in the UK; construction firm Taylor Woodrow; and Mothercare are the largest of these. The borough is also the UK base of many multinationals including C.H. Robinson, Total Oil, TK Maxx, Costco, Vinci and Beko appliances. International golf tournaments such as the 2006 World Golf Championship have taken place at the Grove hotel.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[5]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[6]	Party	Notes
1885	Frederick Halsey	Conservative
1906	Nathaniel Micklem QC	Liberal
1910	Arnold Sandwith Ward	Conservative
1918	Dennis Herbert	Conservative	Deputy Speaker (1931-1943)
1943 by-election	William Helmore	Conservative
1945	Major John Freeman	Labour	High Commissioner to India (1965–1968) Ambassador to the U.S. (1969–1971)
1955	Frederick Farey-Jones	Conservative
1964	Raphael Tuck	Labour
1979	Tristan Garel-Jones	Conservative	Minister for Europe (1990-1993)
1997	Claire Ward	Labour
2010	Richard Harrington	Conservative	Minister for Syrian Refugees (2015-)

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Watford^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Harrington	24,400	43.5	+8.5
	Labour	Matthew Turmaine	14,606	26.0	-0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Dorothy Thornhill	10,152	18.1	-14.3
	UKIP	Nick Lincoln	5,481	9.8	+7.6
	Green	Aidan Cottrell-Boyce	1,332	2.4	+0.8
	Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts	Mark O'Connor	178	0.3	+0.3
Majority			9,794	17.4	+14.8
Turnout			56,149	66.6	-1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.6

General Election 2010: Watford^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Harrington	19,291	34.9	+5.3
	Liberal Democrat	Sal Brinton^{[n 3]}	17,866	32.4	+1.1
	Labour	Claire Ward	14,750	26.7	-6.8
	BNP	Andrew Emerson	1,217	2.2	+2.2
	UKIP	Graham Eardley	1,199	2.2	-0.4
	Green	Ian Brandon	885	1.6	-1.4
Majority			1,425	2.6
Turnout			55,208	68.3	+3.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	6.05

Background to Conservative candidates

In July 2007 former candidate Ali Miraj, 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 demanded a peerage.^[11]^[12] The public selected his former campaign manager Ian Oakley, who had been a candidate for Newport East in 2001 in the first Open Primary to be organised by the Conservative Party in November 2006. In July 2008, Oakley, withdrew candidature after being arrested for conducting a campaign of harassment against the local Liberal Democrats,^[13]^[14] for which he was convicted and given an 18-week suspended prison sentence and 12 month supervision order on 13 October 2008.^[15]

In December 2008 Watford Conservative Association selected a new candidate, Richard Harrington.^[16]

Elections in the 2000s

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
	UKIP	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	0.0
	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
	UKIP	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

Elections in the 1990s

^[17]

General Election 1997: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Claire Ward	25,109	45.3	+11.3
	Conservative	Robert Ian Neilson Gordon	19,227	34.8	-13.3
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew James Canning	9,272	16.8	+0.0
	Referendum	Philip Edward Roe	1,484	2.7	N/A
	Natural Law	Leslie James Kenneth Davis	234	0.4	N/A
Majority			5,792	10.5
Turnout			55,236	74.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Watford^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Tristan Garel-Jones	29,072	48.8	+0.1
	Labour	Michael J. Jackson	19,482	32.7	+4.5
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Oaten	10,231	17.2	−5.9
	Green	Jeremy Hywel-Davies	566	1.0	N/A
	Natural Law	Leslie James Kenneth Davis	176	0.3	N/A
Majority			9,590	16.1	−4.4
Turnout			59,527	82.3	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Tristan Garel-Jones	27,912	48.7
	Labour	Michael John Jackson	16,176	28.2
	Social Democratic	Fiona Mary Beckett	13,202	23.1
Majority			11,736	20.5
Turnout				77.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Tristan Garel-Jones	26,273	47.95
	Social Democratic	P. Burton	14,267	26.04
	Labour	I. Wilson	14,247	26.00
Majority			12,006	21.91
Turnout				76.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Watford^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Tristan Garel-Jones	21,320	47.64
	Labour	Tony Banks	18,030	40.28
	Liberal	B Bodle	5,019	11.21
	National Front	Brent Cheetham	388	0.87
Majority			3,290	7.35
Turnout			44,757	81.26
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election October 1974: Watford ^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Raphael Herman Tuck	19,177	44.28
	Conservative	Tristan Garel-Jones	15,220	35.14
	Liberal	David Anthony Jacobs	8,243	19.03
	National Front	Jeremy Wotherspoon	671	1.55
Majority			3,957	9.14
Turnout				77.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Watford ^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Raphael Herman Tuck	18,884	40.47
	Conservative	David W. Clarke	16,089	34.48
	Liberal	David Anthony Jacobs	11,035	23.65
	National Front	Jeremy Wotherspoon	651	1.4
Majority			2,795	5.99
Turnout				85
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Raphael Herman Tuck	19,698	45.71
	Conservative	David W. Clarke	19,622	45.53
	Liberal	Colin G. Watkins	3,778	8.77
Majority			76	0.18
Turnout				75.44
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Raphael Herman Tuck	23,832	54.38
	Conservative	David W. Clarke	19,996	45.62
Majority			3,836	8.75
Turnout				82.87
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Raphael Herman Tuck	20,224	45.18
	Conservative	Frederick William Farey-Jones	18,744	41.87
	Liberal	Miss Margaret Neilson	5,797	12.95
Majority			1,480	3.31
Turnout				83.61
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Frederick William Farey-Jones	21,216	46.85
	Labour	Renee Short	18,315	40.44
	Liberal	Ian S. Steers	5,753	12.70
Majority			2,901	6.41
Turnout				84.82
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Frederick William Farey-Jones	22,546	51.98
	Labour	Ernest Ashley Bramall	20,829	48.02
Majority			1,717	3.96
Turnout				82.36
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1951: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Horace Freeman	22,370	47.90
	Conservative	Sydney William Leonard Ripley	21,862	46.81
	Liberal	Hamilton Brinsley Bush	2,469	5.29
Majority			508	1.09
Turnout				87.18
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Horace Freeman	21,759	47.36
	Conservative	John Maxwell Bemrose	20,302	44.19
	Liberal	Hamilton Brinsley Bush	3,879	8.44
Majority			1,457	3.17
Turnout				87.14
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Horace Freeman	32,138	46.03
	Conservative	William Helmore	29,944	42.88
	Liberal	Henry Eric Southey Harben	7,743	11.09
Majority			2,194	3.14
Turnout				73.40
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Watford by-election, 1943^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Helmore	13,839	53.9	-11.5
	Common Wealth	Raymond Blackburn	11,838	46.1	n/a
Majority			2,001	7.8	-23.0
Turnout				38.0	+25.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Rt Hon Sir Dennis Henry Herbert	28,196	65.42
	Labour	Stanley Walter Morgan	14,906	34.58
Majority			13,290	30.83
Turnout				63.55
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Sir Dennis Henry Herbert	34,076	78.34
	Labour	Frank Mortimer Jacques	9,423	21.66
Majority			24,653	56.67
Turnout				71.01
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Watford^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Dennis Henry Herbert	18,583	45.9	-8.8
	Liberal	Edward Terrell	12,288	30.3	+11.6
	Labour	Herman Macdonald	9,665	23.8	-2.8
Majority			6,295	15.6	-12.5
Turnout				72.4	-0.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-10.2

Corbett Ashby

General Election 1924: Watford ^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Dennis Henry Herbert	15,271	54.7	+11.7
	Labour	Herbert Henry Elvin	7,417	26.6	-4.2
	Liberal	Margery Irene Corbett Ashby	5,205	18.7	-7.5
Majority			7,854	28.1	+15.9
Turnout				73.1	+4.6
	Unionist hold		Swing	+8.0

General Election 1923: Watford ^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Dennis Henry Herbert	10,533	43.0	-6.2
	Labour	James Joseph Mallon	7,532	30.8	-4.1
	Liberal	Robert Allen Bateman	6,423	26.2	+10.3
Majority			3,001	12.2	-2.1
Turnout				68.5	-0.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	-1.0

General Election 1922 : Watford ^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Dennis Henry Herbert	12,040	49.2
	Labour	James Joseph Mallon	8,561	34.9
	Liberal	Robert Allen Bateman	3,896	15.9
Majority			3,479	14.3
Turnout				69.0
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Frank Gray

General Election 1918 Watford ^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Dennis Henry Herbert	11,155	57.2	n/a
	Labour	George Lathan	4,952	25.4	n/a
	Liberal	Frank Gray	3,395	17.4	n/a
Majority			6,203	31.8	n/a
Turnout				59.5	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

endorsed by Coalition Government

Elections in the 1900s

Micklem

General Election 1906: Watford ^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Nathaniel Micklem	7,613	55.4
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Frederick Halsey	6,136	44.6
Majority			1,476	10.8	N/A
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Frederick Halsey

General Election 1900: Watford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Frederick Halsey	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
↑ Candidate in the 2005 and 2010 elections, appointed to the House of Lords as Baroness Brinton, November 2010.^[10]

References

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ Deborah McGurran (15 May 2009). "First electoral test for councils". BBC News. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
↑ 2010 election result
↑ 2011 Census
↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ Watford, UKPollingReport
↑ Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll - Parliamentary Election 6 May 2010 : Watford Council
↑ Bowcott, Owen (19 November 2010). "Party donors and political apparatchiks appointed working peers". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
↑ 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
↑ Harrison, John (2008-12-17). "Tory candidate: 'I'm confident of victory'". Watford Observer. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
↑ http://www.watford.gov.uk/ccm/content/legal-and-democratic/elections/election-results---parliamentary-1-may-1997.en;jsessionid=771DB6CCAFC9B7F2327986A3325099EB
↑ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i20.htm
↑ http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge74b/i20.htm
↑ http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge74a/i20.htm
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
1 2 3 4 Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
↑ The Times, 25 January 1906

Constituencies in the East of England (58)

Conservative (52)	Basildon and Billericay Bedford Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland Broxbourne Bury St Edmunds Castle Point Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Chelmsford Colchester Epping Forest Great Yarmouth Harlow Harwich and North Essex Hemel Hempstead Hertford and Stortford Hertsmere Hitchin and Harpenden Huntingdon Ipswich Maldon Mid Bedfordshire Mid Norfolk North East Bedfordshire North East Cambridgeshire North East Hertfordshire North West Cambridgeshire North West Norfolk Norwich North Peterborough Rayleigh and Wickford Rochford and Southend East Saffron Walden St Albans South Basildon and East Thurrock South Cambridgeshire South East Cambridgeshire Southend West South Norfolk South Suffolk South West Bedfordshire South West Hertfordshire South West Norfolk Stevenage Suffolk Coastal Thurrock Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Suffolk Witham

Labour (4)	Cambridge Luton North Luton South Norwich South

Liberal Democrats (1)	North Norfolk

UK Independence Party (1)	Clacton

East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) Labour (1) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 51°39′N 0°24′W / 51.650°N 0.400°W / 51.650; -0.400

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.