Almanac of British Politics PDF
Preview Almanac of British Politics
The Almanac of British Politics ‘A really useful guide to our rulers, a fountain of arcana and attitude.’ Jeremy Paxman Praise for previous editions: ‘The political equivalent of Wisden.’ Martin Kettle,The Sunday Times ‘Quite simply, this is the bible, certainly as far as reporters of electoral politics are concerned…ItisWaller’sencyclopaedicknowledgeoftheelectoralmapcoupled with…Criddle’sidiosyncraticpenportraitsthatmaketheAlmanacwhatitistoday.’ Professor Michael Thrasher, University of Plymouth,Representation ‘An essential guide for political journalists, a mine of information for enthusiasts, useful for everyone else and a bargain.’ Professor David Denver, Lancaster University TheAlmanacofBritishPoliticshasestablisheditselfovernearlytwentyyearsasthe definitive guide to the electoral map of Great Britain. This new edition has been thoroughlyrevisedandupdatedfollowingLabour’shistoricelectionvictoryin2001. Itscomprehensivecoverageprovidesawittyandinformativebiographicalprofileof every Member of Parliament and a detailed social, demographic, economic and politicalanalysisofeachconstituency.Inadditionitcontainsawealthofmaps,tables andstatisticstogivetheclearestpictureoftheBritishsocialandpoliticallandscapein the twenty-first century. Robert Waller is Head of History at Greenacre School, Banstead, and a former Fellow and Lecturer in Politics and History at Oxford University. Byron Criddleis Reader in Politics at the University of Aberdeen. The Almanac of British Politics Seventh Edition Robert Waller and Byron Criddle London and New York Firsteditionpublished1983 Secondedition1985 Thirdedition1987 byCroomHelmLtd Fourtheditionpublished1991 Fifthedition1996 Sixthedition1999 Seventhedition2002 byRoutledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 29West35thStreet,NewYork,NY10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” ©1983,1985,1987,1991RobertWaller ©1996,1999,2002RobertWallerandByronCriddle Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic, mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafter invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermission inwritingfromthepublishers. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefrom theBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequested ISBN 0-203-99464-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–26833–8 (hbk) ISBN0–415–26834–6(pbk) Contents List of maps vi Introduction vii Acknowledgements x The 2001 Parliament 1 The June 2001 General Election result 3 Regional survey 6 NewScottishconstituencies:provisionalrecommendations,February2002 17 Members of Parliament 19 Commons divisions 2001–2002 23 2001 Parliament: oldest MPs 27 2001 Parliament: longest (continuously) serving MPs 29 2001 Parliament: youngest MPs 30 Seats ranked by marginality and safety 31 Statistical tables: constituencies 39 Explanation of statistical terms 51 List of abbreviations 56 Constituencies and Members of Parliament 59 Maps 897 IndexofMembersofParliament 921 List of maps SouthWestEngland 899 Wessex 900 HomeCountiesSouth 901 SouthLondon 902 NorthLondon 903 HomeCountiesNorth 904 EastAnglia 905 WelshMarchesandWarwickshire 906 WestMidlands 907 EastMidlands 908 NorthMidlands 909 GreaterManchester 910 LancashireandMerseyside 911 SouthandWestYorkshire 912 NorthYorkshireandHumberside 913 NorthernEngland 914 SouthWales 915 MidandNorthWales 916 SouthernScotland 917 Glasgow 918 NorthernScotland 919 NorthernIreland 920 Introduction Thisistheseventheditionofabookwhichhasfornearly20yearsnowattemptedto describe the political geography or electoral anatomy of the United Kingdom. By meansofindividualconstituencyprofiles,anassessmentismadeofwhatinfluences the various parts of the country to vote as they do. How do social and economic characteristics affect political behaviour and preference? What are the local and nationaldeterminantsofvotingpatterns?Whatmakeseachparliamentaryseat‘tick‘? Howstrongareregionalfactors,orthepersonalvotesofMPsandcandidates?The title of the book, and its approach and format, owe much to Michael Barone’s illuminating,enjoyableanduniqueAlmanacofAmericanPolitics,ofwhichthe2002 volume is the 15th biennial edition, to which a great debt must be acknowledged. It is indeed in the spirit of attempting to replicate the service provided by that AmericanAlmanacthatinthemostrecentthreeeditionsofthisbookpenportraitsof MPsandcandidateshavebeenaddedtothoseoftheconstituencies.EssentiallyByron Criddle has been responsible for writing the descriptions of politicians: he is the ‘people person’, as it were, while Robert Waller has continued to undertake the description and analysis of places. In the latter, constituency, section certain national themes are illustrated. Those partsofthecountrywhichhaveaconcentrationofmiddle-classresidents–thosewho work in non-manual occupations – tend to produce constituencies supporting the Conservative party, while those with a higher proportion of working-class manual employees have long harboured Labour seats. Although dramatic changes in housing tenure patterns in recent years have obscured the once stark differences between local authority housing and owner- occupation, neighbourhoods dominated by council-built housing, now frequently called‘socialhousing’,ausagewhichwillbefoundinthisedition,arestillregarded asproducingapoliticalambiencestronglyfavourabletoLabour,orindeedin2001to abstention – MORI polling during the 2001 campaign found that only 52% of the remaining council tenants voted. Districts favoured by non-white residents, whether Asian or Afro-Caribbean in origin,usuallyprovideareliablesourceofsupportfortheLabourparty.Theheaviest concentrationsofAsiansandblackpeoplearetobefoundinvariouspartsofLondon (suchasEalingSouthall,Brent,Hounslow,Newham,Haringey,Lambeth,Hackney andpartsofTowerHamlets),inBirminghamandotherpartsoftheWestMidlands, VIII INTRODUCTION and in the cities of Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Leicester and in the towns of Blackburn and Slough. AgriculturalareasaretraditionallyverypoorgroundforLabour.Theyaremuch morefertileterritoryfortheConservatives,andinsomepartsofBritain(particularly the‘Celticfringe’)fortheLiberalDemocrats.Itshouldberememberedthatthe2001 GeneralElectionwasnotmerelyaffectedbybutactuallypostponedfromitsoriginal intendeddateof3Maybecauseoftheperceptionofacrisisinthecountryside.Inthe end, however, little electoral impact can be detected, even in the rural areas most affected. Certain types of industry, such as coal-mining, nurture Labour strongholds – which can outlast the destruction of the activity which first brought workers to the area.Ahighproportionofvotersinthearmedservices,suchasarefoundatAldershot andGosportinHampshire,skewthepoliticalcharacteristicsofaconstituencytothe Tories. Thesevariableindicators,andotherstoo,areincorporatedinthetextdescribing each seat, or the statistics associated with it. In the text, any features of specific interestrelatingtoaconstituencyanditshistoryarerecorded.Theseshortessaysare inevitablyimpressionistic;theytrytopointouttheindividualityofeachlocality.The electoralhistoriesofBritishconstituenciesrevealchangingtrendsanddevelopments since the Second World War. TheConservativesatfirstdidincreasinglywellintheSouthofEngland,although ‘New’Labourhavemadeaverysignificantrecoveryintheirlandslideyearsof1997 and2001,whilemaintainingtheirgripontheNorth,thusraisingthespectreof‘Two Nations’ once again in British politics. Unemployment has also varied greatly between North and South, between depressed and affluent districts. Several cities haveswungtoLabourasthepopulationhasdropped,asthemiddleclasseshavefled tothesuburbsorbeyond,asethnicminoritycommunitieshavegrown,orwhereold religious cleavages have declined in importance, as in the case of the end of the working-class Orange Protestant Tory vote in Liverpool and Glasgow. Other constituenciestrendedtowardstheTories,especiallyinthe1980s,forexamplethose based on New Towns (in the south of England at least), but have swung back to Labour after 18 years of Conservative government since 1997. Such long-term patternssuperimposethemselvesuponmoreuniformandregularswingsbetweenthe political parties which are to be found at each general election. It is likely that a thorough local knowledge will aid in predicting and understandingtheresultsofthenextgeneralelectionaswell.Butitishopedthatthis AlmanacwillbemorethanaguidetothepoliticalandelectoralmapofBritain.Itis hopedthatelectoralevidence,togetherwiththesocialandeconomicinformation,will helptoproduceaseriesofthumbnailsketcheswhichbuilduptoacharacterisationof theUnitedKingdomandwhatmakesitbehaveasitdoes.Electionsofferamassof evidence relating to the history and traditions of each part of the country. The Almanacshouldbeabletotellthereaderwheretheleafyresidentialareasofatown are to be found, where the council estates are, where one can discern that divide between‘therightandwrongsidesofthetracks’,the‘eastandwestendsoftown’.All kinds of political cleavage are illustrated: between North and South, England and INTRODUCTION IX Scotland,urbanandruralareas.Thereareelectorallysignificantdistinctionsofclass and tenure, race and language. The Almanac aims to be more than a handbook for elections. The political topography of the nation should have a wider relevance. Electionsinformsocialandeconomichistoryandsociology.Britishsocietyshould not be analysed as if it were of secondary importance, offering clues to election results,andtothereasonsbehindtheshort-termsuccessandfailureofmerepolitical parties. The Almanac of British Politics is a personal description of the country and its elected politicians. The authors fully realise that they cannot know as much about each district as the inhabitants themselves, and may have made judgments about personalitieswhichareinerror.Theywelcomecorrectionsandimprovementswhich mightbeincorporatedinfutureeditions,whichwillstriveforanevermoreaccurate understanding of the electoral reflection of the character of the United Kingdom.
Description:The list of books you might like
