West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)

West Dorset
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Dorset in Dorset.
Location of Dorset within England.
County	Dorset
Electorate	76,779 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Dorchester, Bridport and Sherborne
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Oliver Letwin (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Dorset
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

West Dorset is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Oliver Letwin, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History

The seat was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Political history

West Dorset has been served only by Conservative MPs. Historic results do not indicate regular marginal majorities leading to a status as a safe seat if based on the historic, period of representation, measure alone. The closest result of recent years was in 2001 where the present member, Oliver Letwin only just defended his majority with a lead of 2.8% over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Simon Green - his party have since that election continued as the runner-up party.

Prominent frontbenchers

Oliver Letwin, with a settled background in policy formulation, has become the Minister of State for Policy (a Cabinet Office role) in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition, as of 12 May 2010.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Boroughs of Bridport and Lyme Regis, the Sessional Divisions of Bridport and Cerne, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Dorchester and Sherborne.

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, and Lyme Regis, the Rural Districts of Beaminster, Bridport, Cerne, and Dorchester, and in the Rural District of Weymouth the civil parishes of Abbotsbury, Langton Herring, and Portisham.

1950-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, and Lyme Regis, the Urban District of Sherborne, the Rural Districts of Beaminster, Bridport, and Sherborne, and part of the Rural District of Dorchester.

1983-present: The District of West Dorset except the ward of Overmoigne.

The West Dorset constituency covers most of the West Dorset district and includes the towns of Dorchester, the county town of Dorset; Bridport, Lyme Regis and Beaminster to the west and Sherborne to the north.

Constituency profile

Aside from visitor towns, and the Jurassic Coast which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site., the seat draws on managerial and advanced professional skills in sectors such as mechanical engineering, manufacturing, reconditioning, defence, art and design, which support local trades and retail. A slightly greater than the average proportion of people are retired.^[2] Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.4% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Henry Richard Farquharson	Conservative
	1895 by-election	Sir Robert Williams	Conservative
	1922	Sir Philip Colfox	Conservative
	1941 by-election	Kenelm Simon Digby Wingfield Digby	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Sir Jim Spicer	Conservative
	1997	Oliver Letwin	Conservative

Elections

General Election 2015: West Dorset [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Letwin	28,329	50.2	+2.6
	Liberal Democrat	Ros Kayes	12,199	21.6	−19.1
	UKIP	David Glossop	7,055	12.5	+8.7
	Labour	Rachel Rogers	5,633	10.0	+3.3
	Green	Peter Barton	3,242	5.7	+4.6
Majority			16,130	28.6
Turnout			56,643	72.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Past elections

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General election, May 2010 [5] Electorate: 76,869 Turnout: 57,337 (74.6%) −1.8		Conservative hold Majority: 3,923 (6.8%) Swing: 1.1% from Lib Dem to Con		Oliver Letwin	Conservative	27,287	47.6	+1.1
				Sue Farrant	Liberal Democrat	23,364	40.7	−1.2
				Steve Bick	Labour	3,815	6.7	−1.1
				Oliver Chisholm	UKIP	2,196	3.8	+1.8
				Susan Greene	Green	675	1.2	−0.6
General election, May 2005 [6] Electorate: 69,643 Turnout: 53,225 (74.6%) +6.8		Conservative hold Majority: 2,461 (4.6%) Swing: 0.9% from Lib Dem to Con		Oliver Letwin	Conservative	24,763	46.5	+1.9
				Justine McGuinness	Liberal Democrat	22,302	41.9	+0.1
				Dave Roberts	Labour	4,124	7.7	−5.9
				Linda Guest	UKIP	1,084	2.0	n/a
				Susan Greene	Green	952	1.8	n/a
General election, June 2001 [7] Electorate: 71,291 Turnout: 49,571 (69.5%) −6.6		Conservative hold Majority: 1,414 (2.8%) Swing: 0.3% from Con to Lib Dem		Oliver Letwin	Conservative	22,126	44.6	+3.5
				Simon Green	Liberal Democrat	20,712	41.8	+4.1
				Richard Hyde	Labour	6,733	13.6	−4.1
General election, May 1997 [7] Electorate: 70,369 Turnout: 53,552 (76.1%) −5.1		Conservative hold Majority: 1,840 (3.4%) Swing: 5.6% from Con to Lib Dem		Oliver Letwin	Conservative	22,036	41.1	−9.7
				Robin Legg	Liberal Democrat	20,196	37.7	+1.5
				Robert Bygraves	Labour	9,497	17.7	+4.7
				P Jenkins	UKIP	1,590	3.0	n/a
				Mark Griffiths	Natural Law	239	0.4	n/a
General election, April 1992 [8] Electorate: 67,256 Turnout: 54,604 (81.2%) +2.9		Conservative hold Majority: 8,010 (14.7%) Swing: 5.0% from Con to Lib Dem		James Spicer	Conservative	27,766	50.8	−5.4
				Robin Legg	Liberal Democrat	19,756	36.2	+4.5
				JPB Mann	Labour	7,082	13.0	+0.8
General election, June 1987 [9] Electorate: 64,360 Turnout: 78.3% (+4.1)		Conservative hold Majority: 12,364 (24.6%) Swing: 3.2% from Con to Lib		James Spicer	Conservative	28,305	56.2	−3.5
				Trevor Jones	Liberal	15,941	31.7	+2.8
				D Watson	Labour	6,123	12.2	+3.4
General election, June 1983 [10] Electorate: 60,997 Turnout: 74.2% (−4.8)		Conservative hold Majority: 13,952 (30.1%) Swing: 4.1% from Con to Lib		James Spicer	Conservative	27,030	59.7	+1.0
				Trevor Jones	Liberal	13,078	28.9	+7.1
				D Cash	Labour	5,168	8.8	−19.1
General election, May 1979 [11] Electorate: 56,658 Turnout: 79.0% (+1.2)		Conservative hold Majority: 16,505 (36.9%) Swing: 8.1% from Lib to Con		James Spicer	Conservative	26,281	58.7	+9.5
				Trevor Jones	Liberal	9,776	21.8	−6.6
				HJ Skevington	Labour	7,999	17.9	−4.5
				J Tillotson	National Front	514	1.2	n/a
				G McEwan	Wessex Regionalist	192	0.4	n/a
General election, October 1974 [12] Electorate: 53,569 Turnout: 77.8% (−5.3)		Conservative hold Majority: 8,685 (20.8%) Swing: 2.0% from Lib to Con		James Spicer	Conservative	20,517	49.2	+0.2
				RM Angus	Liberal	11,832	28.4	−3.7
				PJ Dawe	Labour	9,350	22.4	−3.5
General election, February 1974 [13] Electorate: 53,116 Turnout: 83.1% (+6.3)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,451 (16.9%) Swing: 9.2% from Lib to Con		James Spicer	Conservative	21,634	49.0	−5.1
				RM Angus	Liberal	14,183	32.1	+13.3
				MF Cross	Labour	8,333	18.9	−8.2
General election, June 1970 [14] Electorate: 50,716 Turnout: 38,931 (76.8%) −4.1		Conservative hold Majority: 10,545 (27.1%) Swing: 5.6% from Lab to Con		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	21,081	54.2	+6.5
				George Sakwa	Labour	10,536	27.1	−4.6
				Allan Percival	Liberal	7,314	18.8	−1.9
General election, March 1966 [15] Electorate: 45,937 Turnout: 80.9% (−0.8)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,952 (16.0%) Swing: 1.8% from Con to Lab		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	17,709	47.7	−0.9
				Donald Shirreff	Labour	11,757	31.7	+2.7
				Aza Pinney	Liberal	7,676	20.7	−1.8
General election, October 1964 [16] Electorate: 44,951 Turnout: 81.7% (−0.2)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,210 (19.6%) Swing: 4.5% from Con to Lab		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	17,841	48.6	−6.1
				Leslie King	Labour	10,631	29.0	−2.9
				Aza Pinney	Liberal	8,242	22.5	+9.1
General election, October 1959 [17] Electorate: 44,109 Turnout: 81.9% (+1.8)		Conservative hold Majority: 8,211 (22.7%) Swing: 6.7% from Lab to Con		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	19,747	54.7	−4.9
				Leslie King	Labour	11,536	31.9	−8.5
				John Goodden	Liberal	4,850	13.4	n/a
General election, May 1955 [18] Electorate: 44,026 Turnout: 80.1% (−2.0)		Conservative hold Majority: 6,763 (19.2%) Swing: 0.7% from Con to Lab		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	21,007	59.6	−0.7
				Leslie King	Labour	14,244	40.4	+0.7
General election, October 1951 [19] Electorate: 43,900 Turnout: 82.1% (−1.9)		Conservative hold Majority: 7,431 (20.6%) Swing: 7.6% from Lab to Con		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	21,739	60.3	+8.5
				Cambreth John Kane	Labour	14,308	39.7	+6.7
General election, February 1950 [20] Electorate: 43,202 Turnout: 84.0% (+9.3)		Conservative hold Majority: 6,804 (18.8%) Swing: 2.0% from Con to Lab		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	18,771	51.8	+1.7
				Cambreth John Kane	Labour	11,967	33.0	+2.2
				Colin Grant Cameron	Liberal	5,531	15.3	−3.8
General election, July 1945 [21] Electorate: 35,780 Turnout: 74.7%		Conservative hold Majority: 5,184 (19.3%)		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	13,399	50.1	n/a
				Cambreth John Kane	Labour	8,215	30.8	n/a
				George Harold Newsom	Liberal	5,098	19.1	n/a
By-election, June 1941 Resignation of Philip Colfox		Conservative hold		Simon Wingfield Digby	Conservative	unopposed
General election, November 1935 [22] Electorate: 32,817 Turnout: 77.9% (−3.7)		Conservative hold Majority: 2,090 (8.2%) Swing: 6.1% from Con to Lib		Philip Colfox	Conservative	13,825	54.1	−6.1
				George Chappell	Liberal	11,735	45.9	+6.1
General election, October 1931 [23] Electorate: 31,590 Turnout: 81.6% (+1.0)		Conservative hold Majority: 5,239 (20.4%)		Philip Colfox	Conservative	15,510	60.2	+11.1
				George Chappell	Liberal	10,271	39.8	+8.0
General election, May 1929 [24] Electorate: 30,946 Turnout: 80.6% (+7.4)		Unionist hold Majority: 4,326 (17.3%)		Philip Colfox	Unionist	12,247	49.1	+19.2
				George Chappell	Liberal	7,921	31.8	n/a
General election, October 1924 [24] Electorate: 24,852 Turnout: 73.2% (+2.3)		Unionist hold Majority: 6,662 (36.6%)		Philip Colfox	Unionist	12,426	68.3	+9.5
				Louie Simpson	Labour	5,764	31.7	−9.5
General election, December 1923 [24] Electorate: 24,242 Turnout: 70.9% (−7.6)		Unionist hold Majority: 3,013 (17.6%)		Philip Colfox	Unionist	10,100	58.8	−3.3
				Louie Simpson	Labour	7,087	41.2	+3.3
General election, November 1922 [24] Electorate: 23,885 Turnout: 78.5%		Unionist hold Majority: 4,548 (24.2%)		Philip Colfox	Unionist	11,649	62.1	n/a
				TC Duke	Labour	7,101	37.9	n/a
General election, December 1918 [25] Electorate: 23,621		Unionist hold		Robert Williams	Unionist	unopposed
General election, December 1910 [25] Electorate: 7,576		Unionist hold		Robert Williams	Unionist	unopposed
General election, January 1910 [25] Electorate: 7,576		Unionist hold Majority: 1,252 (18.3%)		Robert Williams	Unionist	4,011	59.2	+3.2
				WS Edwards	Liberal	2,759	40.8	−3.2
General election, 1906 [25] Electorate: 7,413		Unionist hold Majority: 837 (12.9%)		Robert Williams	Unionist	3,671	56.4	n/a
				JJ Haye	Liberal	2,834	43.6	n/a
General election, 1900 [25] Electorate: 7,448		Conservative hold		Robert Williams	Conservative	unopposed
General election, 1895 [25]		Conservative hold		Robert Williams	Conservative	unopposed
By-election, May 1895 [25] Death of Henry Richard Farquharson		Conservative hold Majority: 1,213 (20.7%)		Robert Williams	Conservative	3,538	60.3	+3.6
				GW Homer	Independent Liberal	2,325	39.7	−3.6
General election, 1892 [25] Electorate: 7,747		Conservative hold Majority: 878 (13.5%)		Henry Richard Farquharson	Conservative	3,691	56.7
				CT Gatty	Liberal	2,813	43.3
General election, 1886 [25] Electorate: 7,914		Conservative hold Majority: 1,205 (19.6%)		Henry Richard Farquharson	Conservative	3,672	59.8	+8.3
				HCG Batten	Liberal	2,467	40.2	−8.3
General election, 1885 [25] new seat		Conservative win Majority: 202 (3.0%)		Henry Richard Farquharson	Conservative	3,507	51.5	n/a
				H Carey Batten	Liberal	3,305	48.5	n/a

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Dorset

Notes and references

Notes

1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. 2011 Census
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. "UK General Election results May 2015". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
5. "UK General Election results May 2010". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
6. "UK General Election results May 2005". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
7. "UK General Election results 1997 & 2001: Dorset West". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
8. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
9. "UK General Election results June 1987". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
10. "UK General Election results June 1983". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
11. "UK General Election results May 1979". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
12. "UK General Election results October 1974". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
13. "UK General Election results February 1974". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
14. "UK General Election results June 1970". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
15. "UK General Election results March 1966". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
16. "UK General Election results October 1964". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
17. "UK General Election results October 1959". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
18. "UK General Election results May 1955". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
19. "UK General Election results October 1951". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
20. "UK General Election results February 1950". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
21. "UK General Election results July 1945". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
22. "UK General Election results November 1935". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
23. "UK General Election results October 1931". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
24. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 337. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
25. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 266. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.