County Buckinghamshire Electorate 75,837 (December 2010) Type of constituency Borough constituency Member of parliament John Bercow | Population 97,184 (2011 census) Created 1885 European Parliament constituency South East England Number of members 1 | |
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Major settlements Princes Risborough, Buckingham, Winslow | ||
Buckingham /ˈbʌkɪŋm̩/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by John Bercow, who later became Speaker of the House of Commons.
Contents
Map of Buckingham, UK
Boundaries
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Sessional Divisions of Ashendon, Buckingham, Newport, and Stony Stratford, and part of the Sessional Division of Winslow.
1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Linslade, and Newport Pagnell, the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Stratford and Wolverton, Wing, and Winslow, and parts of the Rural Districts of Aylesbury and Long Crendon.
1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Linslade, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow.
1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow.
1983–1992: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow, and the Borough of Milton Keynes wards of Stony Stratford, Wolverton, and Wolverton Stacey Bushes.
1992–1997: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow.
1997–2010: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Aston Clinton, Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow.
2010–present: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Edlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Weedon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow, and the District of Wycombe wards of Icknield and The Risboroughs.
The constituency takes up a large part of central Buckinghamshire, covering much of the Aylesbury Vale district including the town of Buckingham. To the north, the remaining part of ceremonial Buckinghamshire forms two Borough of Milton Keynes constituencies (Milton Keynes South and Milton Keynes North).
History
The seat has sent MPs since 1542 — its standard double representation was halved in 1868. In the twentieth century, the constituency was held by the Conservative Party for most of the time. However, a Labour Party MP served Buckingham from 1945 until 1951, Aidan Crawley and from 1964 until 1970 its Labour MP was the controversial publisher Robert Maxwell.
Before the periodic review effected in 1983, the new town of Milton Keynes, including its older parts such as Bletchley and Fenny Stratford was in the constituency. The review followed the previous national review in 1974 and recognised the large increase in electorate in the seat. The sitting Buckingham MP William Benyon stood for the then-created Milton Keynes constituency where he was elected. The residual seat was won in 1983 by Conservative George Walden. Walden retired in 1997, and John Bercow won the following general elections in 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2015. In 2009, Bercow was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons following the resignation of Michael Martin and there is an inconsistently followed convention not to oppose a professed speaker candidate at election which is mostly kept by the major parties — nonetheless UKIP's leader stood against Bercow in the 2010 election but finished third behind the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy founder who previously founded the Pro-Euro Conservative Party.
At the 2005 general election, this constituency had the Conservatives' highest numerical majority, although a higher share of the vote was achieved in Kensington and Chelsea in London and Richmond in North Yorkshire, the constituency of William Hague.
Members of Parliament
Elections in the 2010s
1 In both 2015 and 2010, John Bercow stood as 'The Speaker seeking re-election'.