U.K election maps

[Harry Hayfield]

Ah, yeah, Elastan Morgan. Had a number of close elections either way IIRC... in two or three different seats...

Elystan Morgan (Labour MP 1966 - Feb 1974) Cardiganshire is now (if anyone is interested) very high up in the University of Wales, Aberystwyth

[Rural Radical]

Ah, yeah, Elastan Morgan. Had a number of close elections either way IIRC... in two or three different seats...

Elystan Morgan (Labour MP 1966 - Feb 1974) Cardiganshire is now (if anyone is interested) very high up in the University of Wales, Aberystwyth

How old is He ? I have driven from one end of the seat to the other today.

[Serenity Now]

'66! '66!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Work has just started on 1966

[minionofmidas]

Work has just started on 1966

JUBILATION

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And he be 1966...



Obviously one of my favourite Post-War elections

Enjoy!

A few notes:

1. Just like 1997 it's interesting to note quite how much worse the election could have been for the Tories. It might be interesting to speculate how different later voting patterns would have been if Yeovil, Truro or Hereford had fallen. Along that line, it's traditionally held in Shropshire that the Tories only held Ludlow due to the incumbent's large personal vote.

2. As ever, foreshadowing of later trends is spottable; once again Labour failed to gain southern marginals like Eastleigh, Colchester or Chigwell, but won northern ones by suprisingly large margins (look at York) and made some more first-ever gains (like Lancaster). Meanwhile the electoral effect of New Towns became very real in 1966.

3. Two unpopular Tory politicians of the previous decade were finally beaten in 1966 (in Hampstead and Monmouth). Tories would likely have held bother without their negative personal votes.

4. 1966 was Labour's best ever election in Wales.

[Peter]

Liberals lose Ceredigon (or Cardigan as it was then) for the first time in what .... history?

[minionofmidas]

Liberals lose Ceredigon (or Cardigan as it was then) for the first time in what .... history?

I knew the answer once. 1830s or something. Of course it was Conservative before.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Liberals lose Ceredigon (or Cardigan as it was then) for the first time in what .... history?

IIRC the Tories last held Cardiganshire in the 1840's (not sure on the exact decade though) so since then. Certainly Liberal since Gladstone.

Nearest modern equivilent would be the Tories losing Lewes in 1997.

IMO the incumbent Liberal (at best a part-time M.P, at worst...) deserved to lose by a larger margin than he actually did...

[Harry Hayfield]

Ah, allow me to elaborate (coming from the constituency in question)

In 1966, the Lib Dems lost Ceredigion to Labour on a swing of 4.5% from Lib Dem to Lab.  The Conservatives last held Ceredigion (or at least the borough constituency) when the seat was abolished in 1885.

Ceredigion 1964

Lib Dems 38%, Lab 31%, Con 20%, Plaid 11%

Ceredigion 1966

Lab 37% (+6%), Lib Dems 35% (-3%), Con 19% (-1%), Plaid 8% (-3%)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

1987 now...



An unusual election and one that never really led anywhere; in some ways it was the election most influenced by Thatcher and Thatcherism and resembles the (Presidential) election maps of the U.S in the '80's the most.
Some notes:

1. Scotland saw a huge backlash against Thatcherism and the Tories in general... something also seen in many big cities in Northern England...

2. ...but at the same time the Tories did very well in working class areas in the Southeast and the Black Country (and Labour did very badly in both as well o/c) including the first Labour defeat in Thurrock for generations, the loss of Attlee's old Walthamstow stronghold and the first Tory victory in Wolverhampton North East since the seat's creation. That more seats in such areas weren't lost is a credit to strong M.P's (epecially in Walsall) and strong local organisations in others (and Labour actually *gained* Wrekin (based around Telford which is home to a lot of ex-black country families) ridding Parliament of the repulsive Warren Hawksley... until he re-emerged in Stourbridge five years later).
The Tories also did very well in suburbia (look at the dark blue belts surrounding London, Brum and Bristol).

3. Meanwhile the influence of the Miners Strike in various coalfield constituencies deserves a mention; in NUM dominated coalfields (especially the more militant ones), Labour majorities surged to levels good even by historical standards, while in coalfields where the UDM was strong (ie; Notts. and Derbyshire) Labour did extremely badly, with heavy defeats in seats like Amber Valley and holds by shockingly low margins elsewhere. It seems improbable now, but Mansfield was the most marginal seat in England that year...

4. 1987 was, of course, a disaster for the Alliance and led towards all the messy goings on that resulted in the strange birth of the Liberal Democrats (Pete can fill you in on that ). Prominant figures from both the SDP and the Liberals either went down to defeat (notably Roy Jenkins in Glasgow Hillhead. The man who beat him is perhaps best known for pretending to be a cat and dressing up in a leotard on a reality TV show last year) or came rather closer to it than they, or anyone else, had expected. There were some good results here and there (rural Scotland was good for both parties, while the SDP did very well in Greenwich and also Plymouth) but if 1987 made anything clear, it was the fact that the Alliance's attempt to "break the mold" had, by and large, failed.

[Peter]

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Don't encourage me.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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Don't encourage me.

Oh but I am encouraging you

[minionofmidas]

Outside London south of the Wash, Labour lost two seats, gained three, and held one.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Outside London south of the Wash, Labour lost two seats, gained three, and held one.

Two gains actually: Norwich South and Oxford East. Both of which were traditionally marginal seats (well... sort of. Oxford East was the better half of marginal Oxford, while Norwich South had been strengthend a bit by boundary changes) and have large student & etc populations.

The two losses were Thurrock and Ipswich. Thurrock had been Labour since either 1945 or the '30's (can't recall which) and had been a safe seat for most of the post-war period (as it is again now). Ipswich had last been lost in 1970 (and by a handful of votes).

The hold was Bristol South; which was actually very close, because the incumbent Labour M.P (Michael Cocks) had been deselected by local Bennites.

[minionofmidas]

I thought I saw a Labour seat in Plymouth on your map - maybe the lighter shades of Labour and SDP are just hard to distinguish. (And I knew anyways which seats Labour had South of the Wash in 83.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I thought I saw a Labour seat in Plymouth on your map - 

That would be David Owen...

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The lighter shades aren't always easy to distinguish no... SDP seats that year were: Plymouth Devonport, Greenwich, Woolwich, Caithness & Sutherland and Ross, Cromarty & Skye.

[Serenity Now]

One interesting thing in this election was the different kinds of people who became Labour MPs: In Sheffield Brightside there was Britain's first blind MP(?) and a certain former home secretary. A handful of ethnic minority MPs entered the commons for Labour, including Keith Vaz in Leicester East and Britains joint first black MPs (Paul Boetang, Bernie Grant and Diane Abbot), all elected from London constituencies (Brent South, Tottenham and Hackney North respectively.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

One interesting thing in this election was the different kinds of people who became Labour MPs: In Sheffield Brightside there was Britain's first blind MP(?) and a certain former home secretary.

Yep; Blunkett was the first totally blind M.P. And the first to bring a guidedog into the Commons. Labour's majority went up a *lot* in Brightside that year; Blunkett is very popular in north Sheffield and was a high-profile leader of Sheffield City Council.

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Although there was some very obvious racist voting in Tottenham (which turned marginal!) and in the other two London seats as well IIRC (but less obvious). Vaz got rid of another sh*t of an M.P o/c...

[Serenity Now]

Although there was some very obvious racist voting in Tottenham (which turned marginal!) and in the other two London seats as well IIRC (but less obvious). Vaz got rid of another sh*t of an M.P o/c...

Bernie Grant was also a controversial candidate after remarking that a police officer (who was killed, or maybe just badly injured in a riot) as having gotten "a damn good hiding" remark." However, I only know that from when i watched some of the old coverage on BBC parliament. When I looked at the map I really was surprised by Tottenham's marginality.

Who was the MP for Leicester East that Vaz unseated?

[Harry Hayfield]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned the swap in support for the SNP in 1987? Lab gain Western Isles and Dundee East from SNP, whilst SNP gain Angus East, Banff and Buchan and Moray from Con.

Lab gain Western Isles (West) and Dundee East (East) from SNP
SNP gain Angus East (East) and Banff and Buchan and Moray (NE) from Con.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Bernie Grant was also a controversial candidate after remarking that a police officer (who was killed, or maybe just badly injured in a riot) as having gotten "a damn good hiding" remark." However, I only know that from when i watched some of the old coverage on BBC parliament. When I looked at the map I really was surprised by Tottenham's marginality.

True; and as such a swing against Labour there was always likely, but the usual pattern of racist voting (ie; a big fall, followed by a recovery of some sorts next election) was very noticable in Tottenham. O/c only part of the seat is Tottenham; he must have lost the Wood Green bit.

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Peter Bruinvels

[Serenity Now]

Peter Bruinvels

from Wikipedia:

"A contorversial figure on the farther fringe of the Conservative right, Bruinvels volunteered on the floor of parliament to become the public hangman if the government restored capital punishment, and was scathing of what he regarded as the left-wing bias of the BBC, which he referred to as the "Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation". Bruinvels was also a fierce critic of sex education in schools which he regarded as libertine propaganda. "

Not hard to see what you meant!

[Rural Radical]

Whatever happened to the Mini Hangman? He was selected to fight The Wrekin in 1997, and he was defeated.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm pretty sure he's on the General Synod of the Church of England now... he certainly was a few years ago.