Almanac of British Politics

942 Pages·2002·4.53 MB·English

by  Robert Waller

The Almanac of British Politics
‘A really useful guide to our rulers, a fountain of arcana and attitude.’
Jeremy Paxman
Praise for previous editions:
‘The political equivalent of Wisden.’
Martin Kettle,The Sunday Times
‘Quite simply, this is the bible, certainly as far as reporters of electoral politics are
concerned…ItisWaller’sencyclopaedicknowledgeoftheelectoralmapcoupled
with…Criddle’sidiosyncraticpenportraitsthatmaketheAlmanacwhatitistoday.’
Professor Michael Thrasher, University of Plymouth,Representation
‘An essential guide for political journalists, a mine of information for enthusiasts,
useful for everyone else and a bargain.’
Professor David Denver, Lancaster University
TheAlmanacofBritishPoliticshasestablisheditselfovernearlytwentyyearsasthe
definitive guide to the electoral map of Great Britain. This new edition has been
thoroughlyrevisedandupdatedfollowingLabour’shistoricelectionvictoryin2001.
Itscomprehensivecoverageprovidesawittyandinformativebiographicalprofileof
every Member of Parliament and a detailed social, demographic, economic and
politicalanalysisofeachconstituency.Inadditionitcontainsawealthofmaps,tables
andstatisticstogivetheclearestpictureoftheBritishsocialandpoliticallandscapein
the twenty-first century.
Robert Waller is Head of History at Greenacre School, Banstead, and a former
Fellow and Lecturer in Politics and History at Oxford University.
Byron Criddleis Reader in Politics at the University of Aberdeen.

The Almanac of British Politics
Seventh Edition
Robert Waller and Byron Criddle
London and New York
Firsteditionpublished1983
Secondedition1985
Thirdedition1987
byCroomHelmLtd
Fourtheditionpublished1991
Fifthedition1996
Sixthedition1999
Seventhedition2002
byRoutledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
29West35thStreet,NewYork,NY10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
©1983,1985,1987,1991RobertWaller
©1996,1999,2002RobertWallerandByronCriddle
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,
mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafter
invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermission
inwritingfromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefrom
theBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequested
ISBN 0-203-99464-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–26833–8 (hbk)
ISBN0–415–26834–6(pbk)
Contents
List of maps vi
Introduction vii
Acknowledgements x
The 2001 Parliament 1
The June 2001 General Election result 3
Regional survey 6
NewScottishconstituencies:provisionalrecommendations,February2002 17
Members of Parliament 19
Commons divisions 2001–2002 23
2001 Parliament: oldest MPs 27
2001 Parliament: longest (continuously) serving MPs 29
2001 Parliament: youngest MPs 30
Seats ranked by marginality and safety 31
Statistical tables: constituencies 39
Explanation of statistical terms 51
List of abbreviations 56
Constituencies and Members of Parliament 59
Maps 897
IndexofMembersofParliament 921
List of maps
SouthWestEngland 899
Wessex 900
HomeCountiesSouth 901
SouthLondon 902
NorthLondon 903
HomeCountiesNorth 904
EastAnglia 905
WelshMarchesandWarwickshire 906
WestMidlands 907
EastMidlands 908
NorthMidlands 909
GreaterManchester 910
LancashireandMerseyside 911
SouthandWestYorkshire 912
NorthYorkshireandHumberside 913
NorthernEngland 914
SouthWales 915
MidandNorthWales 916
SouthernScotland 917
Glasgow 918
NorthernScotland 919
NorthernIreland 920
Introduction
Thisistheseventheditionofabookwhichhasfornearly20yearsnowattemptedto
describe the political geography or electoral anatomy of the United Kingdom. By
meansofindividualconstituencyprofiles,anassessmentismadeofwhatinfluences
the various parts of the country to vote as they do. How do social and economic
characteristics affect political behaviour and preference? What are the local and
nationaldeterminantsofvotingpatterns?Whatmakeseachparliamentaryseat‘tick‘?
Howstrongareregionalfactors,orthepersonalvotesofMPsandcandidates?The
title of the book, and its approach and format, owe much to Michael Barone’s
illuminating,enjoyableanduniqueAlmanacofAmericanPolitics,ofwhichthe2002
volume is the 15th biennial edition, to which a great debt must be acknowledged.
It is indeed in the spirit of attempting to replicate the service provided by that
AmericanAlmanacthatinthemostrecentthreeeditionsofthisbookpenportraitsof
MPsandcandidateshavebeenaddedtothoseoftheconstituencies.EssentiallyByron
Criddle has been responsible for writing the descriptions of politicians: he is the
‘people person’, as it were, while Robert Waller has continued to undertake the
description and analysis of places.
In the latter, constituency, section certain national themes are illustrated. Those
partsofthecountrywhichhaveaconcentrationofmiddle-classresidents–thosewho
work in non-manual occupations – tend to produce constituencies supporting the
Conservative party, while those with a higher proportion of working-class manual
employees have long harboured Labour seats.
Although dramatic changes in housing tenure patterns in recent years have
obscured the once stark differences between local authority housing and owner-
occupation, neighbourhoods dominated by council-built housing, now frequently
called‘socialhousing’,ausagewhichwillbefoundinthisedition,arestillregarded
asproducingapoliticalambiencestronglyfavourabletoLabour,orindeedin2001to
abstention – MORI polling during the 2001 campaign found that only 52% of the
remaining council tenants voted.
Districts favoured by non-white residents, whether Asian or Afro-Caribbean in
origin,usuallyprovideareliablesourceofsupportfortheLabourparty.Theheaviest
concentrationsofAsiansandblackpeoplearetobefoundinvariouspartsofLondon
(suchasEalingSouthall,Brent,Hounslow,Newham,Haringey,Lambeth,Hackney
andpartsofTowerHamlets),inBirminghamandotherpartsoftheWestMidlands,
VIII INTRODUCTION
and in the cities of Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Leicester and in the towns of
Blackburn and Slough.
AgriculturalareasaretraditionallyverypoorgroundforLabour.Theyaremuch
morefertileterritoryfortheConservatives,andinsomepartsofBritain(particularly
the‘Celticfringe’)fortheLiberalDemocrats.Itshouldberememberedthatthe2001
GeneralElectionwasnotmerelyaffectedbybutactuallypostponedfromitsoriginal
intendeddateof3Maybecauseoftheperceptionofacrisisinthecountryside.Inthe
end, however, little electoral impact can be detected, even in the rural areas most
affected.
Certain types of industry, such as coal-mining, nurture Labour strongholds –
which can outlast the destruction of the activity which first brought workers to the
area.Ahighproportionofvotersinthearmedservices,suchasarefoundatAldershot
andGosportinHampshire,skewthepoliticalcharacteristicsofaconstituencytothe
Tories.
Thesevariableindicators,andotherstoo,areincorporatedinthetextdescribing
each seat, or the statistics associated with it. In the text, any features of specific
interestrelatingtoaconstituencyanditshistoryarerecorded.Theseshortessaysare
inevitablyimpressionistic;theytrytopointouttheindividualityofeachlocality.The
electoralhistoriesofBritishconstituenciesrevealchangingtrendsanddevelopments
since the Second World War.
TheConservativesatfirstdidincreasinglywellintheSouthofEngland,although
‘New’Labourhavemadeaverysignificantrecoveryintheirlandslideyearsof1997
and2001,whilemaintainingtheirgripontheNorth,thusraisingthespectreof‘Two
Nations’ once again in British politics. Unemployment has also varied greatly
between North and South, between depressed and affluent districts. Several cities
haveswungtoLabourasthepopulationhasdropped,asthemiddleclasseshavefled
tothesuburbsorbeyond,asethnicminoritycommunitieshavegrown,orwhereold
religious cleavages have declined in importance, as in the case of the end of the
working-class Orange Protestant Tory vote in Liverpool and Glasgow. Other
constituenciestrendedtowardstheTories,especiallyinthe1980s,forexamplethose
based on New Towns (in the south of England at least), but have swung back to
Labour after 18 years of Conservative government since 1997. Such long-term
patternssuperimposethemselvesuponmoreuniformandregularswingsbetweenthe
political parties which are to be found at each general election.
It is likely that a thorough local knowledge will aid in predicting and
understandingtheresultsofthenextgeneralelectionaswell.Butitishopedthatthis
AlmanacwillbemorethanaguidetothepoliticalandelectoralmapofBritain.Itis
hopedthatelectoralevidence,togetherwiththesocialandeconomicinformation,will
helptoproduceaseriesofthumbnailsketcheswhichbuilduptoacharacterisationof
theUnitedKingdomandwhatmakesitbehaveasitdoes.Electionsofferamassof
evidence relating to the history and traditions of each part of the country. The
Almanacshouldbeabletotellthereaderwheretheleafyresidentialareasofatown
are to be found, where the council estates are, where one can discern that divide
between‘therightandwrongsidesofthetracks’,the‘eastandwestendsoftown’.All
kinds of political cleavage are illustrated: between North and South, England and
INTRODUCTION IX
Scotland,urbanandruralareas.Thereareelectorallysignificantdistinctionsofclass
and tenure, race and language. The Almanac aims to be more than a handbook for
elections. The political topography of the nation should have a wider relevance.
Electionsinformsocialandeconomichistoryandsociology.Britishsocietyshould
not be analysed as if it were of secondary importance, offering clues to election
results,andtothereasonsbehindtheshort-termsuccessandfailureofmerepolitical
parties.
The Almanac of British Politics is a personal description of the country and its
elected politicians. The authors fully realise that they cannot know as much about
each district as the inhabitants themselves, and may have made judgments about
personalitieswhichareinerror.Theywelcomecorrectionsandimprovementswhich
mightbeincorporatedinfutureeditions,whichwillstriveforanevermoreaccurate
understanding of the electoral reflection of the character of the United Kingdom.