County Greater London Electorate 66,470 (December 2010) Created from Bromley Member of parliament Bob Stewart Replaced by Bromley | Population 87,011 (2011 census) Created 1950 European Parliament constituency London Number of members 1 Party Conservative Party | |
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Beckenham /ˈbɛkəˌnəm/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Bob Stewart of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Constituency profile
The northernmost third of the constituency is in part contiguous to Penge and Crystal Palace and has similar demographics to the borough to the northwest and to Norwood Junction in having significantly more social housing than the Greater London average. However, these wards in 2005 and 2010 voted strongly for the Liberal Democrats, with Labour also competitive.
The remaining half of wards, the three in the south, consist of a larger majority of private housing than the other wards which can be branded as leafy Bromley suburbia in the "BR2 postcode" — one widely known gazetteer summarises this in 2012:
"The properties on these streets typically include a range of styles, from modern to Mock Tudor. However many local residents are wealthy city commuters. Keston Common and Keston Ponds are both popular attractions for locals...The common theme is large, detached houses with substantial land and typically with asking prices of over £1 million. At the lower end of the market, a one bedroom period conversion flat on Turpington Lane near Bromley Common, or a one bedroom flat in a modern block on Homesdale Road, near the Bickley border, would demand an asking price of approximately £160,000."
Also in the southeast is the small town centre of Beckenham itself. The electorate of these wards have voted between 60-70% for Conservative candidates since the seat's inception. In times when Labour has led in the national polls the whole seat has remained Conservative. Its most marginal majority aside from a by-election was in 1997, seeing a 9.3% majority, otherwise its results have been indicative 'safe' majorities of more than 15% other than 2001.
Opposition has featured since 1983 a close contest for second place between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Labour's share has kept much greater than in Orpington whereas Liberal Democrat share has kept much greater than in Croydon Central.
History
The constituency has only elected Conservatives as its MPs since 1950.
The closest the Conservatives have ever come to losing this seat was at a by-election in November 1997, at the height of Tony Blair's 'honeymoon period' as Prime Minister, following the resignation of the previous MP Piers Merchant in a sex scandal. Even then, the former MP for Hastings who lost her seat in the earlier 1997 general election, Jacqui Lait, managed to win the seat by just over 1,000 votes.
Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham was Sir Philip Goodhart, who was soon after 1979 discovered by Margaret Thatcher to be a left-of-centre or 'wet conservative' and consequently his career as a junior minister came to a quick end. Goodhart is best known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee, and for his brother Charles, who was a famous economics professor at LSE and sat for some time on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
Before Sir Philip Goodhart, the former Conservative Chief Whip Patrick Buchan-Hepburn represented Beckenham in Parliament.
Boundaries
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Beckenham, and the Urban District of Penge.
1974-1983: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Manor House, Penge, and Shortlands.
1983-1997: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge, and Shortlands.
1997-2010: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge, Shortlands, West Wickham North, and West Wickham South.
2010-present: The London Borough of Bromley wards of Bromley Common and Keston, Copers Cope, Hayes and Coney Hall, Kelsey and Eden Park, Shortlands, and West Wickham.
Beckenham constituency covers the north-western part of the London Borough of Bromley. The local government ward boundaries were redrawn for the 2002 local elections, though this did not affect parliamentary constituency boundaries until the 2010 general election.
Latest boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England made revisions to the existing Beckenham constituency. Clock House ward, Crystal Palace ward, and Penge and Cator ward were transferred from Beckenham to help create the new constituency of Lewisham West and Penge. Parts of Bromley Common and Keston ward, Hayes and Coney Hall ward, and Shortlands ward were transferred to Beckenham from Bromley and Chislehurst. A small part of Bromley Common and Keston ward was transferred to Beckenham from Orpington and a tiny part of Bromley Town ward was transferred from Beckenham to Bromley and Chislehurst.