Surbiton (UK Parliament constituency)

Surbiton
Surbiton
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
County	Greater London
1955–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Kingston-upon-Thames; Esher; Epsom
Replaced by	Kingston and Surbiton

Surbiton was a borough constituency created for the 1955 general election and abolished for the 1997 general election, in Surrey until 1965 and thereafter in outer south-west London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.

History

This was in the safe/marginal seat spectrum irrefutably a safe Conservative seat during its 32-year lifetime. The party positioned in second position was also unchanged until it changed once in the course of the seat's history. The election when this change took place was the 1983 United Kingdom general election. The narrowest majority was the General Election 1966 at 15.7%.

Boundaries

1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Surbiton.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Kingston upon Thames wards of Berrylands, Chessington, Hook and Southborough, St Mark's and Seething Wells, Surbiton Hill, Tolworth East, Tolworth South, and Tolworth West.

1983–1997: The London Borough of Kingston upon Thames wards of Berrylands, Chessington North, Chessington South, Hook, St Mark's, Surbiton Hill, Tolworth East, Tolworth South, and Tolworth West.

The constituency was made up of the eastern part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London, centred on the area of Surbiton. In 1997, it was absorbed into the new and larger Kingston and Surbiton constituency after the Boundary Commission for England recommended that a seat be lost in the twinned boroughs of Kingston and Richmond.^[1]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[2]	Party
1955	Sir Nigel Fisher	Conservative
1983	Richard Tracey	Conservative
1997	constituency abolished: see Kingston and Surbiton

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1955: Surbiton^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	22,863	64.9
	Labour	S Gordon Richards	12,380	35.1
Majority			10,483	29.8
Turnout			35,243	79.6
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1959: Surbiton^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	24,058	67.4	+2.5
	Labour	Arthur Imisson	11,633	32.6	-2.5
Majority			12,425	34.8	+5.0
Turnout			35,691	79.0	-0.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Surbiton^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	20,499	60.6	-6.8
	Labour	D Eric Heather	13,337	39.4	+6.8
Majority			7,162	21.2	-13.6
Turnout			33,836	75.4	-3.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Surbiton^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	19,989	57.9	-2.7
	Labour	D Eric Heather	14,561	42.1	+2.7
Majority			5,428	15.8	-5.4
Turnout			34,550	77.0	+1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Surbiton^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	17,359	51.7	-6.2
	Labour	Rusi D Kerr-Walter	10,469	31.2	-10.9
	Liberal	Christopher F Green	4,027	12.0	New
	Independent Powell Conservative	Edgar Scruby	1,706	5.1	New
Majority			6,890	20.5	+4.7
Turnout			33,561	70.3	-6.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Surbiton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	17,176	45.60
	Liberal	D Brooke	10,676	28.34
	Labour	Andrew MacKinlay	9,813	26.05
Majority			6,500	17.26
Turnout			37,665	82.26
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Surbiton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	15,330	45.7	+0.1
	Labour	Andrew MacKinlay	9,309	27.7	+1.7
	Liberal	D Brooke	8,931	26.6	-1.7
Majority			6,021	18.0	+0.7
Turnout			33,570	72.9	-9.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Surbiton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Fisher	20,063	56.7	+11.0
	Labour	Colin Moore^[8]	9,261	26.1	-1.6
	Liberal	Christine Tilley^[8]	6,093	17.2	-9.4
Majority			10,802	30.5	+12.5
Turnout			35,417	75.5	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Surbiton^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Tracey	18,245	54.5
	SDP	Christopher Nowakowski	9,496	28.4
	Labour	Nigel Waskett	5,173	15.5
	Ecology	Jim Macellan	551	1.6
Majority			8,749	26.1
Turnout			33,395
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Surbiton^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Tracey	19,861	55.9	+1.4
	SDP	David Burke	10,120	28.5	+0.1
	Labour	Allister McGowan	5,111	14.4	-1.1
	Green	Jean Vidler	465	1.3	-0.3
Majority			9,741	27.4	+1.3
Turnout			35,557	78.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Surbiton^[11]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Tracey	19,033	54.4	−1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Janke	9,394	26.9	−1.6
	Labour	Robin T. Hutchinson	6,384	18.3	+3.9
	Natural Law	W Parker	161	0.5	New
Majority			9,639	27.5	+0.1
Turnout			34,972	82.4	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.1

References

^ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p. 12 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1959.
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1964.
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1966.
^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1970.
^ ^a ^b Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 17. ISBN 0102374805.
^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

[1] C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p. 12 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).

[2] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)

[3] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

[4] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1959.

[5] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1964.

[6] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1966.

[7] The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1970.

[ee79-8] Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 17. ISBN 0102374805.

[electoralcalculus1983-9] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[electoralcalculus1987-10] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[electoralcalculus1992-11] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[12] "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

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