Croydon South (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Croydon South is a parliamentary constituency
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

.
It elects one Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current MP is Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 Richard Ottaway
Richard Ottaway
Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway is a British Conservative politician, and Member of Parliament for Croydon South.-Early life:...

, who in 1992 replaced Sir William Clark
William Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston
William Gibson Haig Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston, PC was a British Conservative Party politician.Clark was educated at Battersea Polytechnic, qualifying in accountancy in 1941. From 1941 until 1946, he served in World War II in Britain and India in the Royal Ordnance Corps, gaining the rank of...

, who had held the seat from its creation in 1974.

Constituency Profile

By far the safest of the three Croydon seats, Croydon South is one of the safest Conservative seats in Greater London, consisting almost entirely of highly affluent suburban areas with well-to-do businesspeople taking advantage of the fast commuter rail connections to the City and Gatwick airport, plus a significant proportion of retirees.

The village-like Selsdon
Selsdon
Selsdon is an area located in the southern suburbs of the London Borough of Croydon. The suburb was developed during the inter-war period during the 1920s and 1930s, and is remarkable for its many Art Deco houses...

 - one of the few places in the seat where transport links are actually poor - has a place on the political map having spawned the phrase 'Selsdon Man', while Purley has become home to large retail estates for out-of-town shopping and leisure.

At the southern end of the seat, Coulsdon has much in common with the county of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 of which it was historically a part.

History

Until 1974, most of the area was in the East Surrey
East Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)
East Surrey is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 constituency, with a constituency also called Croydon South
Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)
-Politics and history of the constituency:The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford...

 covering the completely distinct area now occupied by Croydon Central
Croydon Central (UK Parliament constituency)
The comparison is with the notional 2005 result for the new boundaries which made Croydon Central a Labour defence.-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...

 constituency.

Boundaries

Croydon South covers the south west of the London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...

. It is made up of eight electoral wards from the borough:
  • Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Ballards, Waddon

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

, the Boundary Commission for England made minor changes to the constituency. Parts of Croham ward, Selsdon and Ballards ward, and Waddon ward were transferred to Croydon South from Croydon Central
Croydon Central (UK Parliament constituency)
The comparison is with the notional 2005 result for the new boundaries which made Croydon Central a Labour defence.-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...

 constituency.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
February 1974
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

Sir William Clark
William Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston
William Gibson Haig Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston, PC was a British Conservative Party politician.Clark was educated at Battersea Polytechnic, qualifying in accountancy in 1941. From 1941 until 1946, he served in World War II in Britain and India in the Royal Ordnance Corps, gaining the rank of...

Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...

Richard Ottaway
Richard Ottaway
Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway is a British Conservative politician, and Member of Parliament for Croydon South.-Early life:...

Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...


Elections in 2010s


Elections in 2000s

Sources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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