- Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)
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Coordinates: 52°01′37″N 0°22′59″W / 52.027°N 0.383°W
Mid Bedfordshire County constituency for the House of Commons 
Boundary of Mid Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire.
Location of Bedfordshire within England.County Bedfordshire Electorate 76,381 (December 2010)[1] Current constituency Created 1918 Member of Parliament Nadine Dorries (Conservative) Number of members One Overlaps European Parliament constituency East of England Mid Bedfordshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It has long been a safe Conservative seat, and Nadine Dorries has been the MP since 2005.
Contents
Boundaries
Following the latest review of parliamentary representation in Bedfordshire, the Boundary Commission for England made only minor changes to the existing constituencies.[2]
The Mid Bedfordshire seat has been formed from electoral wards under the Borough of Bedford and Central Bedfordshire.
- From Bedford Borough Council: Turvey, Wilshamstead and Wootton.
- From Central Bedfordshire Council: Ampthill, Aspley Guise, Barton-le-Clay, Clifton and Meppershall, Cranfield, Flitton, Greenfield and Pulloxhill, Flitwick East, Flitwick West, Harlington, Houghton, Haynes, Southill and Old Warden, Marston, Maulden and Clophill, Shefford, Campton and Gravenhurst, Shillington, Streatley, Stondon and Henlow Camp, Silsoe, Toddington, Westoning and Tingrith and Woburn.
These are the former South Bedfordshire and Mid Bedfordshire council wards that were used to create the constituency at the most recent boundary review. Since the creation of the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority in 2009, different wards have been used for the election of local councillors.
History
The seat has elected Conservative MPs since 1931. It was held from 1983 to 1997 by the former Attorney General Sir Nicholas Lyell, who then transferred to the newly created seat of North East Bedfordshire; his old seat was won by Jonathan Sayeed, a former MP in Bristol in the 1980s. Sayeed was forced to retire in 2005 due to ill health, following a row over allegations he had profited from private tours of Parliament and a resulting deselection attempt by the constituency party. Nadine Dorries has held the seat since.
Members of Parliament
Election Member [3] Party 1918 Maximilian Townley Conservative 1922 Frederick Linfield Liberal 1924 William Warner Conservative 1929 Milner Gray Liberal 1931 Alan Lennox-Boyd Conservative 1960 by-election Stephen Hastings Conservative 1983 significant boundary changes 1983 Nicholas Lyell Conservative 1997 significant boundary changes 1997 Jonathan Sayeed Conservative 2005 Nadine Dorries Conservative Elections
Elections in the 2010s
General Election 2010: Mid Bedfordshire[4] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Nadine Dorries 28,815 52.5 +5.9% Liberal Democrat Linda Jack 13,663 24.9 +1.4 Labour David Reeves 8,108 14.8 -7.7 UKIP Bill Hall 2,826 5.1 +2.4 Green Malcolm Bailey 773 1.4 -1.2 English Democrats John Cooper 712 1.3 N/A Majority 15,152 27.6 Turnout 54,897 72.2 +3.5 Elections in the 2000s
General Election 2005: Mid Bedfordshire Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Nadine Dorries 23,345 46.3 −1.1 Liberal Democrat Mark Chapman 11,990 23.8 +4.1 Labour Martin Lindsay 11,351 22.5 −7.6 UKIP Richard Joselyn 1,372 2.7 0.0 Green Ben Foley 1,292 2.6 N/A Veritas Howard Martin 769 1.5 N/A Independent Saqhib Ali 301 0.6 N/A Majority 11,355 22.5 Turnout 50,420 68.3 +2.4 Conservative hold Swing −2.6 General Election 2001: Mid Bedfordshire[5] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Jonathan Sayeed 22,109 47.4 +1.4 Labour James Valentine 14,043 30.1 -2.4 Liberal Democrat Graham Mabbutt 9,205 19.7 +2.9 UKIP Chris Laurence 1,281 2.7 N/A Majority 8,066 17.3 Turnout 46,638 65.9 -13.1 Conservative hold Swing 1.9 Elections in the 1990s
General Election 1997: Mid Bedfordshire[6] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Jonathan Sayeed 24,176 46.0 -16.4 Labour Neil Mallett 17,086 32.5 +12.7 Liberal Democrat Tim J. Hill 8,823 16.8 +1.0 Referendum Party Mrs. Shirley C. Marler 2,257 4.3 Natural Law Marek J. Lorys 174 0.3 Turnout 52,534 78.9 Conservative hold Swing -14.6%[7] General Election 1992: Mid Bedfordshire[8] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Nicholas Lyell 40,230 58.2 -0.8 Labour RA Clayton 15,092 21.8 +3.8 Liberal Democrat NC Hills 11,957 17.3 -5.7 Liberal DP Cottier 1,582 2.3 +2.3 Natural Law MJ Lorys 279 0.4 +0.4 Majority 25,138 36.4 +0.3 Turnout 69,140 84.4 +5.7 Conservative hold Swing -2.3 Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1945: Bedfordshire Mid
Electorate 51,465, Turnout 73.19%, Voters 37,668
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Alan Lennox-Boyd 13,954 37.0 Labour W Howell 12,073 32.1 Liberal E Kenneth Martell 11,641 30.9 Majority 1,881 5.0 See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ Boundary Commission for England News Release (download)
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
- ^ http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/images/Mid%20Beds%20Statement%20of%20Nominations_tcm5-27596.pdf
- ^ BBC Vote 2001 Results
- ^ election.demon.co.uk 1997 General Election Results 1997
- ^ The swing was calculated by the BBC compared with a notional 1992 result. BBC Election '97
- ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
Categories:- Parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1918
- Flitwick
- Ampthill
- Biggleswade
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