Dagenham (UK Parliament Constituency)
Boundaries
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Dagenham1945.png/260px-Dagenham1945.png)
1945–1974: The Borough of Dagenham.
1974–1983: The London Borough of Barking wards of Chadwell Heath, Eastbrook, Fanshawe, Heath, River, Valence, and Village.
1983–2010: The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham wards of Alibon, Chadwell Heath, Eastbrook, Fanshawe, Heath, Marks Gate, River, Triptons, Valence, and Village.
2010 Boundary change
Following their review of parliamentary representation in North London, the Boundary Commission for England created a new constituency of Dagenham and Rainham.
History
Before 1945 this Dagenham constituency and surrounding area was part of the Romford constituency. The MP for the predecessor seat since 1935, Labour's John Parker, stood again on each occasion in this smaller successor area, representing it until 1983. Parker was the last serving MP to have been elected before the Second World War, and with 48 years in Parliament, remained the longest-serving Labour MP in history until Dennis Skinner served Bolsover for 49 years. Dagenham was held by Labour since its inception and election predictions always rated it as a safe seat. The constituency shared boundaries with the Dagenham electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.
The far-right British National Party (BNP) was active in this area periodically and its support led to some retained deposits by polling more than 5% of the vote on several occasions. Their candidate received nearly 10% of the vote in the 2005 general election and in the 2006 local elections returned 12 councillors to Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council.
Constituency profile
The constituency hosted shrinking skilled manual industry such as the Ford Motor Company works, which downscaled production in 2001, leading to replacement distribution and warehousing businesses as well as local regeneration under the Thames Gateway project from 2005 however higher than national unemployment immediately, including following the seat's abolition. (See the main successor seat, Dagenham and Rainham for statistics.) The largest-polling opposition candidate was Conservative since 1979, with the Liberal Party a greater or equal opponent in elections before that, vying for second place with that party.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1945 | John Parker | Labour | |
1983 | Bryan Gould | Labour | |
1994 by-election | Judith Church | Labour | |
2001 | Jon Cruddas | Labour | |
2010 | constituency abolished: see Dagenham and Rainham |
Election results
Elections in the 1940s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 36,686 | 83.69 | ||
Conservative | Albert Cooper | 7,147 | 16.31 | ||
Majority | 29,539 | 67.38 | |||
Turnout | 43,833 | 69.08 | |||
Registered electors | 63,450 | ||||
Labour win (new seat) |
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 43,300 | 72.50 | -11.19 | |
Conservative | D. Cook | 11,565 | 19.37 | +3.06 | |
Liberal | Ivy Elizabeth Hallett Thurston | 3,973 | 6.65 | New | |
Communist | George Bridges | 883 | 1.48 | New | |
Majority | 31,735 | 53.13 | -14.25 | ||
Turnout | 59,721 | 81.28 | +12.20 | ||
Registered electors | 73,477 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | -7.13 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 44,908 | 76.09 | +3.59 | |
Conservative | Norman St John-Stevas | 14,112 | 23.91 | +4.54 | |
Majority | 30,796 | 52.18 | +0.95 | ||
Turnout | 59,020 | 77.72 | -3.56 | ||
Registered electors | 73,939 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | -0.48 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 38,811 | 73.88 | -2.21 | |
Conservative | Roger Ibbotson Gray | 13,718 | 26.12 | +2.21 | |
Majority | 25,093 | 47.76 | -4.42 | ||
Turnout | 52,529 | 68.94 | -8.78 | ||
Registered electors | 76,198 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.21 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 37,009 | 69.00 | -4.88 | |
Conservative | Andrew Felix Waley | 16,626 | 31.00 | +4.88 | |
Majority | 20,383 | 38.00 | -9.76 | ||
Turnout | 53,635 | 72.51 | +3.57 | ||
Registered electors | 73,968 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | -4.88 |
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 32,851 | 64.82 | -4.18 | |
Conservative | Giles E Currie | 9,461 | 18.67 | -12.33 | |
Liberal | Patrick Thurlbeck Humphrey | 7,301 | 14.41 | New | |
Communist | Kevin Halpin | 1,070 | 2.11 | New | |
Majority | 23,390 | 46.15 | +8.15 | ||
Turnout | 50,683 | 70.96 | -1.55 | ||
Registered electors | 71,424 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +4.08 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 35,055 | 74.65 | +9.83 | |
Conservative | Giles E Currie | 10,530 | 22.42 | +3.75 | |
Communist | George C Wake | 1,373 | 2.92 | +0.81 | |
Majority | 24,525 | 52.23 | +6.08 | ||
Turnout | 46,958 | 67.40 | -3.56 | ||
Registered electors | 69,671 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +3.04 |
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 31,335 | 70.74 | ||
Conservative | Hugh McClancy | 11,976 | 27.04 | ||
Communist | George C Wake | 982 | 2.22 | ||
Majority | 19,359 | 43.70 | |||
Turnout | 44,290 | 59.05 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 35,765 | 72.68 | ||
Conservative | Archie Hamilton | 12,275 | 24.94 | ||
Communist | George C Wake | 1,169 | 2.38 | ||
Majority | 23,490 | 47.74 | |||
Turnout | 49,209 | 71.02 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 29,678 | 65.23 | ||
Conservative | Archie Hamilton | 7,684 | 16.89 | ||
Liberal | G Poole | 7,564 | 16.63 | New | |
Communist | George C Wake | 569 | 1.25 | ||
Majority | 21,994 | 48.34 | |||
Turnout | 45,495 | 64.99 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Parker | 24,707 | 52.57 | ||
Conservative | Gary Hyams | 14,600 | 31.07 | ||
Liberal | Mark Long | 5,583 | 11.88 | ||
National Front | John Roberts | 1,553 | 3.30 | New | |
Communist | Daniel Connor | 553 | 1.18 | ||
Majority | 10,107 | 21.50 | |||
Turnout | 46,994 | 69.12 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | 13.4% |
Elections in the 1980s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Bryan Gould | 15,665 | 39.26 | ||
Conservative | Bob Neill | 12,688 | 31.77 | ||
SDP | Jacqueline Horne | 10,679 | 27.00 | New | |
National Front | Joe Pearce | 645 | 1.62 | ||
Communist | D Walshe | 141 | 0.35 | ||
Majority | 2,997 | 7.49 | |||
Turnout | 39,878 | 63.34 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Bryan Gould | 18,454 | 44.4 | +5.1 | |
Conservative | Bob Neill | 15,985 | 38.5 | +6.7 | |
SDP | John Carter | 7,088 | 17.1 | -9.9 | |
Majority | 2,469 | 5.9 | -1.6 | ||
Turnout | 41,527 | 67.3 | +4.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Bryan Gould | 22,027 | 52.26 | ||
Conservative | Don Rossiter | 15,294 | 36.29 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Charles Marquand | 4,824 | 11.45 | ||
Majority | 6,733 | 15.97 | |||
Turnout | 42,145 | 70.66 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Judith Church | 15,474 | 72.0 | +19.74 | |
Conservative | James Fairrie | 2,130 | 9.91 | -26.38 | |
Liberal Democrats | Peter Dunphy | 1,804 | 8.39 | -3.06 | |
BNP | John Tyndall | 1,511 | 7.03 | New | |
UKIP | Peter Compobassi | 457 | 2.1 | New | |
Natural Law | Mark Leighton | 116 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 13,344 | 62.1 | +56.1 | ||
Turnout | 21,492 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Judith Church | 23,759 | 65.7 | +13.4 | |
Conservative | James P.J. Fairrie | 6,705 | 18.5 | −17.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Thomas Dobrashian | 2,704 | 7.5 | −3.9 | |
Referendum | Steven Kraft | 1,411 | 3.9 | New | |
BNP | William Binding | 900 | 2.5 | N/A | |
Independent | Richard H. Dawson | 349 | 1.0 | New | |
National Democrats | Michael B. Hipperson | 183 | 0.5 | New | |
ProLife Alliance | Kathleen A. Goble | 152 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 17,054 | 47.2 | +32.3 | ||
Turnout | 36,163 | 62.1 | -8.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Jon Cruddas | 15,784 | 57.2 | −8.5 | |
Conservative | Michael White | 7,091 | 25.7 | +7.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Adrian Gee-Turner | 2,820 | 10.2 | +2.7 | |
BNP | David Hill | 1,378 | 5.0 | +2.5 | |
Socialist Alliance | Bill Hamilton | 262 | 0.9 | New | |
Socialist Labour | Robert Siggins | 245 | 0.9 | New | |
Majority | 8,693 | 31.5 | -15.7 | ||
Turnout | 27,580 | 46.5 | −15.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Jon Cruddas | 15,446 | 50.1 | −7.1 | |
Conservative | Michael White | 7,841 | 25.4 | -0.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | James Kempton | 3,106 | 10.1 | -0.1 | |
BNP | Lawrence Rustem | 2,870 | 9.3 | +4.3 | |
UKIP | Gerard Batten | 1,578 | 5.1 | New | |
Majority | 7,605 | 24.7 | -6.8 | ||
Turnout | 30,841 | 51.3 | +4.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −3.4 |