Politics and history of the constituency

The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm

Ian Malcolm (politician)

Sir Ian Zachary Malcolm, 17th Laird of Poltalloch, KCMG , was a Conservative Member of Parliament and Chieftain of the Clan Malcolm/MacCallum....

 who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge

Malcolm Muggeridge

Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...

, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford

Romford (UK Parliament constituency)

Romford is a 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.- Boundaries :...

. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.

Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams

David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore

David Rees Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, PC, TD was a Welsh politician.Rees-Williams was born in Bridgend, Wales. He qualified as a solicitor in 1929 and married and had three children...

 had held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick

David Winnick

David Julian Winnick is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Walsall North since 1979....

 won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.

From 1950 until 1955, the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson

Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet

Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson, 1st Baronet was a British Conservative politician.Thompson was educated at Malvern College and in India, Burma and Sri Lanka and worked in Calcutta and the Far East in business. In World War II, he served in the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman and became...

respectively.