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1997 Result:
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Davey, Edward
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LibDem
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20,411
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36.70%
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Tracey, Richard
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Con
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20,355
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36.60%
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Griffin, Sheila
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Lab
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12,811
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23.00%
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Tchiprout, Gail
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Ref
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1,417
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2.50%
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Burns, Amy
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UKIP
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418
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0.80%
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Leighton, Mark
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NLP
|
100
|
0.20%
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Port, Clifford
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Dream
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100
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0.20%
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Majority
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56
|
|
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13.6% swing from Con to LibDem
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1992 Notional
Result:
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Con
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29,674
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53.05%
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|
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LibDem
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14,510
|
25.94%
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|
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Lab
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10,991
|
19.65%
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|
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Others
|
762
|
1.36%
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Notional Majority
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15,164
|
27.11%
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|
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Description:
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Having decided that the Royal Borough of Kingston could no longer justify two Parliamentary seats, the Boundary Commissioners took the former constituency of Surbiton in the south and merged it with half of Kingston. The boundary in the north now follows a railway line thereby including New Malden, Norbiton and the centre of Kingston within the new constituency. This should be a safe Conservative seat with a notional majority of 15,164. Kingston has elected a Conservative in every election since 1918 and similarly Surbiton since its creation in 1955. Of the two sitting Tory MPs, Norman Lamont was longer serving and better known but his support for John Redwood was not popular and the former MP for Surbition, Richard Tracey, won the selection. Mr Lamont, who was elected for Kingston at a 1972 by-election following the retirement of Lord Boyd Carpenter, will fight the safe Harrogate and Knaresborough seat instead. Kingston and Surbiton is a prosperous and comfortable constituency. It is mainly residential but the shopping facilities in Kingston's town centre attract people from a wider area. The major local employers are the Borough Council and Kingston University.
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