Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency)

Bristol South East
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Bristol East, Bristol South and Kingswood^[1]
Created from	Bristol East

Bristol South East was a constituency^{[n 1]} in the city of Bristol that returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.^{[n 2]}

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, mainly from the Bristol East constituency, and abolished for the 1983 general election which saw the revival of Bristol East. In boundary changes for the February 1974 general election, part of the constituency's territory was transferred to the new seat of Kingswood.

Sir Stafford Cripps won the seat comfortably from holding its main predecessor in 1950 and continued in government with the new seat for just over six months (he was at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer) before resigning from Parliament on health grounds. The last Member of Parliament was Tony Benn who was a Secretary of State (for Industry from 1974-5 then for Energy from 1975-1979), in the latter role the country saw the Winter of Discontent and power shortages. Benn ran in the near-overlapping replacement seat, Bristol East in 1983 and was defeated by Conservative Jonathan Sayeed.^{[n 3]}

Boundaries

1950-1955: The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, Hengrove, St George East, and St George West.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood, and the Urban District of Kingswood.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, Knowle, St George East, St George West, Stockwood, and Windmill Hill.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Sir Stafford Cripps	Labour
	1950 by-election	Tony Benn	Labour
	1961 (on petition)	Malcolm St Clair	Conservative
	1963 by-election	Tony Benn	Labour
1983		constituency abolished: see Bristol East

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	24,878	45.4	−3.7
	Conservative	J.P. Godwin	22,988	41.9	+7.5
	Liberal	N.W.H. Tatam	6,371	11.6	−5.4
	National Front	J.D. Dowler	523	1.0	−0.5
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	66	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,890	3.5
Turnout			54,826	78.4	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.6

General Election October 1974: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	25,978	49.1	+2.1
	Conservative	J.P. Godwin	16,605	31.4	−1.6
	Liberal	R.S. Wardle	8,987	17.0	−0.5
	National Front	R. J. Bale	775	1.5	+0.2
	World Middle Classes Party (WMPC)	R. R. Goding	457	0.9	N/A
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	P. Rowe	79	0.2	N/A
Majority			9,373	17.7
Turnout			52,881	76.2	−5.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.9

General Election February 1974: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	26,540	47.0	−8.4
	Conservative	Norman G. Reece	18,628	33.0	−11.6
	Liberal	D. R. Grayson	9,870	17.5	N/A
	National Front	R.J. Bale	757	1.3	N/A
	Social Democrat	J.H. Robertson	668	1.2	N/A
Majority			7,912	15.0
Turnout			56,463	81.9	+9.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.6

General Election 1970: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	29,176	55.4	−6.0
	Conservative	Norman G. Reece	23,488	44.6	+6.0
Majority			5,688	10.8
Turnout			52,664	72.0	−4.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.0

Elections in the 1960s

The 1961 by-election was caused by Tony Benn inheriting a hereditary peerage thus making him ineligible to serve in parliament. Benn stood in the by-election anyway, but due to his ineligibility, the Conservative St Clair was declared the winner. St Clair promised to resign if Benn became eligible to take his seat again, which he did after renouncing his peerage in 1963. Benn was then elected in a further by-election.

General Election 1966: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	30,851	61.4	+1.2
	Conservative	C.J.R. Pope	19,435	38.6	−1.2
Majority			11,416	22.8
Turnout			50,286	76.2	−1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

General Election 1964: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	29,117	60.2	+4.0
	Conservative	R.S. O'Brien	19,282	39.8	−4.0
Majority			9,835	20.4
Turnout			48,399	77.9	−1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.0

Bristol South East by-election 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	20,313	79.7	+10.2
	National Fellowship Conservative	Edward Martell	4,834	19.0	N/A
	Independent	M. P. Lloyd	287	1.1	N/A
	Independent	G. Pearl	44	0.2	N/A
Majority			15,479	60.7	+21.7
Turnout			25,478	42.2	−14.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Bristol South East by-election 1961
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	23,275	69.5	+13.3
	Conservative	Malcolm St Clair	10,231	30.5	−13.3
Majority			13,044	39.0	+17.6
Turnout			33,506	56.7	−24.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.0

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Wedgwood Benn	26,273	56.2	−3.3
	Conservative	Malcolm St Clair	20,446	43.8	+3.3
Majority			5,827	12.4
Turnout			46,739	81.4	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.3

General Election 1955: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Wedgwood Benn	25,257	59.5	−5.5
	Conservative	R. G. Cooke	17,210	40.5	+5.5
Majority			8,047	19.0
Turnout			42,467	77.9	−5.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.5

General Election 1951: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Wedgwood Benn	30,811	65.0	+2.4
	Conservative	J.L. Lindsay	16,555	35.0	+8.2
Majority			14,256	30.0
Turnout			47,366	83.8	−1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.9

Bristol South East by-election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Wedgwood Benn	19,367	56.7	−5.9
	Conservative	J. L. Lindsay	12,018	35.2	+8.4
	Liberal	Doreen Marjorie Gorsky	2,752	8.1	−1.4
Majority			7,349	21.5	−14.3
Turnout			34,137	61.1	−23.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.2

General Election 1950: Bristol South East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir R. Stafford Cripps	29,393	62.6	N/A
	Conservative	R. E. Simms	12,590	26.8	N/A
	Liberal	Frederick John Goudge	4,463	9.5	N/A
	Communist	J. F. Webb	524	1.1	N/A
Majority			16,803	35.8	N/A
Turnout			46,970	85.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Notes and References

Notes

↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ As with all constituencies from the 1950s the constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of elections which are held at least every five years.
↑ Tony Benn returned to the House of Commons at a by-election in 1984, elected to serve Chesterfield.

References

↑ "'Bristol South East', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 20 March 2016.

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