Orpington 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

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 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 (MP)

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,...

 by the first past the post system of election.

History

Orpington was created in a mini boundary review enacted at the 1945 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

. The seats of Dartford

Dartford (UK Parliament constituency)

-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Notes and references:...

 and Chislehurst

Chislehurst (UK Parliament constituency)

Chislehurst was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Bromley. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 had both seen their electorate grow enormously since the last review and as an interim measure were divided into four, creating the additional seats of Bexley

Bexley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bexley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Bexley district of south-east London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...

 and Orpington. The seat has changed a little in subsequent boundary reviews since 1945, most recently at the 1997 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

, when the Ravensbourne seat was divided between the three Bromley constituencies, moving Biggin Hill into the existing Orpington seat.

The seat is famous for its 1962 by-election

Orpington by-election, 1962

The Orpington by-election of 1962 is often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the United Kingdom.The election was caused by the appointment of Donald Sumner, Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Orpington as a County Court Judge...

 when it was taken in a shock win by the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 candidate Eric Lubbock

Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury

Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, PC is an English politician. A Liberal Member of Parliament from 1962 to 1970, he succeeded as Baron Avebury in 1971...

.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/15/newsid_2543000/2543507.stm.

The current MP is Jo Johnson

Jo Johnson

Joseph Edmund "Jo" Johnson is a Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Orpington since the general election in May 2010 .-Family, early life and schooling:...

, first elected in the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency is located in the London Borough of Bromley

London Borough of Bromley

The London Borough of Bromley is a London borough of south east London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in the borough is Bromley.-Geography:...

, forming the southeastern limits of Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

 and including the urban areas of Orpington

Orpington

Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

, St Mary Cray

St Mary Cray

St Mary Cray lies on the River Cray and is part of the London Borough of Bromley. St Mary Cray, like St Paul's Cray, has been somewhat overshadowed by the growth of nearby Orpington, which now provides local communities with their main shopping and business facilities...

, most of St Paul's Cray

St Paul's Cray

St Paul's Cray lies on the River Cray and is part of the London Borough of Bromley. St Paul's Cray was once a separate village, but like its sister St Mary Cray has been incorporated in to Orpington...

, Farnborough

Farnborough, London

Farnborough is a settlement in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a suburban development located 13.4 miles southeast of Charing Cross.-History:...

, and Chelsfield

Chelsfield

Chelsfield is a place in the London Borough of Bromley in London, England.The name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cillesfelle, meaning land of a man called Cēol....

 and extending through the countryside to Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill is an area and electoral ward in the outskirts of the London Borough of Bromley in southeast London, United Kingdom.-History:Historically the settlement was known as Aperfield and formed part of the parish of Cudham...

. It is made up of seven electoral wards from the borough:

• Biggin Hill, Chelsfield and Pratts Bottom, Cray Valley East, Darwin, Farnborough and Crofton, Orpington, Petts Wood and Knoll

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 existing constituency of Orpington. Cray Valley West ward was transferred to Bromley and Chislehurst constituency and a small part of Bromley Common and Keston ward was transferred to the revised Beckenham

Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Beckenham is a parliamentary 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 profile:...

 constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...	Sir Waldron Smithers Waldron Smithers Sir Waldron Smithers was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.Smithers was educated at Charterhouse and in France and became a member of the London Stock Exchange...	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...
	1955 United Kingdom general election, 1955 The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...	Donald Sumner Donald Sumner William Donald Massey Sumner , known as Donald Sumner, was a British Conservative Party politician who later became a judge...	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...
	1962 by-election Orpington by-election, 1962 The Orpington by-election of 1962 is often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the United Kingdom.The election was caused by the appointment of Donald Sumner, Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Orpington as a County Court Judge...	Eric Lubbock Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, PC is an English politician. A Liberal Member of Parliament from 1962 to 1970, he succeeded as Baron Avebury in 1971...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1970 United Kingdom general election, 1970 The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...	Ivor Stanbrook Ivor Stanbrook Ivor Robert Stanbrook was a British Conservative party politician and barrister. He represented Orpington as its Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1992.-Biography and 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...
	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...	John Horam John Horam John Rhodes Horam is a politician in the United Kingdom. He sat in the House of Commons for two separate periods between 1970 and 2010, as a member of three different political parties, latterly as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Orpington until 2010.-Early life:Horam was born in...	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...
	2010	Jo Johnson Jo Johnson Joseph Edmund "Jo" Johnson is a Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Orpington since the general election in May 2010 .-Family, early life and schooling:...	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 the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in 1990s

Elections in 1980s

Elections in 1970s

Elections in 1960s

Elections in 1950s

Elections in 1940s

External links

• UK Constituency Maps
• BBC Vote 2001 Includes 1997 and 2001 results
• BBC Election 2005
• Political Science Resources