Plymouth Sutton (UK Parliament constituency)

Plymouth, Sutton
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Plymouth, Sutton in Devon for the 2005 general election.
Location of Devon within England.
County	Devon
1918–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Plymouth Moor View, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

Plymouth Sutton covered parts of the city of Plymouth, in South West England, and was first contested at the 1918 general election. In a by-election in 1919, it became the second constituency in the UK (and the first in Great Britain) to elect a female MP: Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons (the first female MP was the Sinn Féin member Constance Markievicz, who did not take her seat). Three of its MPs have been members of the Astor family. A more recent prominent MP was the flamboyant Conservative Alan Clark, who represented Plymouth Sutton from 1974 until 1992.

Abolition

Following a review of parliamentary representation in Devon by the Boundary Commission for England, constituencies in Plymouth have been reorganised, with both Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport being replaced by new constituencies of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View from 2010.^[1]

Boundaries

1918-1950: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Friary, Laira, St Andrew, Sutton, and Vintry.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Drake, Friary, Laira, Mutley, St Andrew, Sutton, Valletort, and Vintry, and in the Rural District of Plympton St Mary the civil parish of Bickleigh.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Efford, Friary, Mount Gould, Peverell, Sutton, Tamerton, and Trelawney.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Crownhill, Efford, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, Plymstock Radford, and Sutton.

1983-1997: The City of Plymouth wards of Efford, Eggbuckland, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, and Plymstock Radford.

1997-2010: The City of Plymouth wards of Compton, Drake, Efford, Mount Gould, St Peter, Stoke, Sutton, and Trelawny.

The 1997 boundary changes were superficially helpful to Labour in this constituency: what had been a safe Conservative seat became a marginal seat. As such the seat from 1997 until 2010 was closer in its wards to the defunct marginal seat of Plymouth Drake.^[2]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[3]	Party
1918	Waldorf Astor	Conservative
1919 by-election	Nancy Astor	Conservative
1945	Lucy Middleton	Labour
1951	Jakie Astor	Conservative
1959	Ian Fraser	Conservative
1966	David Owen	Labour
Feb 1974	Alan Clark	Conservative
1992	Gary Streeter	Conservative
1997	Linda Gilroy	Labour
2010	constituency abolished: see Plymouth Moor View & Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Waldorf Astor

General Election 1918: Plymouth Sutton^[4] Electorate 43,444
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Waldorf Astor	17,091	65.9	N/A
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	5,334	20.6	N/A
	Liberal	Capt. Sidney Ransom	3,488	13.5	N/A
Majority			11,757	45.3
Turnout				59.6	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

endorsed by the Coalition Government

Isaac Foot

Plymouth Sutton by-election, 1919
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Unionist	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	14,495	51.9
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	9,292	33.3
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	4,139	14.8
Majority			5,203	18.6
Turnout
	Coalition Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

Nancy Astor

General Election 1922: Plymouth Sutton^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	13,924	47.4
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	10,831	36.8
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Wansey Bayly	4,643	15.8
Majority			3,093	10.6
Turnout				78.0
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Plymouth Sutton^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	16,114	54.5	+7.1
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	13,438	45.5	+8.7
Majority			2,676	9.0	-1.6
Turnout				77.9	-0.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	-0.8

General Election 1924: Plymouth Sutton^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	18,174	58.1
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	13,095	41.9
Majority			5,079	16.2
Turnout				81.6
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929: Plymouth Sutton^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	16,625	43.2	-15.9
	Labour	William Westwood	16,414	42.7	+0.8
	Liberal	Thomas Henry Aggett	5,430	14.1	n/a
Majority			211	0.5	-15.7
Turnout				81.1	-0.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.8

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931: Plymouth Sutton^[4] Electorate 47,862
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	24,277	63.3
	Labour	George Ward	14,073	36.7
Majority			10,204	26.6
Turnout				80.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1935: Plymouth Sutton^[4] Electorate 47,540
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor	21,491	58.3
	Labour	George Ward	15,394	41.7
Majority			6,097	16.6
Turnout				77.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

Conservative: Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor
Labour: Lucy Annie Middleton^[5]

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Plymouth Sutton^[4] Electorate 41,493
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lucy Annie Middleton	15,417	51.6
	Conservative	Brig. Laurence Douglas Grand	10,738	36.0
	Liberal	Joan Arundell Gaved	3,695	12.4
Majority			4,679	15.6
Turnout				71.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lucy Annie Middleton	27,512	47.73
	Conservative	John Jacob Astor	26,588	46.13
	Liberal	Kenneth Henry B Major	3,541	6.14
Majority			924	1.60
Turnout				86.40
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Jacob Astor	28,908	50.62
	Labour	Lucy Annie Middleton	28,198	49.38
Majority			710	1.24
Turnout				85.37
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1955: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Jacob Astor	30,051	53.38
	Labour	Lucy Annie Middleton	26,241	46.62
Majority			3,810	6.77
Turnout				78.88
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Montagu Fraser	32,752	55.75
	Labour	Julian D. Richards	25,991	44.52
Majority			6,761	11.51
Turnout				79.30
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Montagu Fraser	24,722	43.82
	Labour	John Elliot Orr Dunwoody	24,312	43.09
	Liberal	Graham Cocks	7,383	13.09
Majority			410	0.73
Turnout				76.66
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Anthony Llewellyn Owen	31,567	54.51
	Conservative	Ian Montagu Fraser	26,345	45.49
Majority			5,222	9.02
Turnout				78.90
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Anthony Llewellyn Owen	29,383	50.64
	Conservative	John M. Goss	28,636	49.36
Majority			747	1.29
Turnout				72.27
	Labour hold		Swing

New constituency boundaries came into effect in time for the following election in February 1974.

General Election February 1974: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark	21,649	45.22
	Labour	BW Fletcher	13,545	28.29
	Liberal	Simon Godfrey Banks	12,683	26.49
Majority			8,104	16.93
Turnout			47,876	79.07
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election October 1974: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark	20,457	44.61
	Labour	Julian Gordon Priestley	15,269	33.3
	Liberal	Simon Godfrey Banks	10,131	22.09
Majority			5,188	11.31
Turnout			45,858	75.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Plymouth Sutton^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark	28,892	54.8
	Labour	Julian Gordon Priestley	17,605	33.39
	Liberal	J Scannell	6,226	11.81
Majority			11,287	21.41
Turnout			52,723	76.95
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: Plymouth Sutton^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	25,203	55.12
	Liberal	A Puttick	13,516	29.56
	Labour	Frances Holland	6,358	14.3
	Ecology	S Shaw	470	1.03
Majority			11,687	25.56
Turnout			45,726	76.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	23,187	45.76
	Liberal	Bruce Malcolm Tidy	19,174	37.84
	Labour	Ralph Donald Maddern	8,310	16.4
Majority			4,013	7.92
Turnout			50,674	79.03
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Plymouth Sutton^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Streeter	27,070	49.5	+3.7
	Labour	Andrew Pawley	15,120	27.6	+11.2
	Liberal Democrat	Julian P. Brett-Freeman	12,291	22.5	−15.4
	Natural Law	Jeremy J. Bowler	256	0.5	+0.5
Majority			11,950	21.8	+13.9
Turnout			54,737	81.2	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

General Election 1997: Plymouth Sutton^[9]^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	23,881	50.1	+11.3
	Conservative	Andrew Crisp	14,441	30.3	−11.5
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Melia	6,613	13.9	+0.7
	Referendum	Tim Hanbury	1,654	3.5
	UKIP	Roger Bullock	499	1.1
	Independent	Kevin Kelway	396	0.8
	Natural Law	Frank Lyons	168	0.4	−0.1
Majority			9,440	19.8	+17.8
Turnout			47,650	67.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	11.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Plymouth, Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	19,827	50.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile^[12]	12,310	31.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Connett	5,605	14.3	+0.5
	UKIP	Alan Whitton	970	2.5	+1.4
	Socialist Labour	Henry Leary	361	0.9	N/A
Majority			7,517	19.2	−0.6
Turnout			39,073	57.1	−10.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−0.3

General Election 2005: Plymouth, Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	15,497	40.6	−10.1
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile^[12]	11,388	29.8	−1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Gillard	8,685	22.7	+8.4
	UKIP	Robert Cumming	2,392	6.3	+3.8
	Socialist Labour	Rob Hawkins	230	0.6	−0.3
Majority			4,109	10.8	−8.4
Turnout			38,192	56.8	−0.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−4.2

Notes and references

↑ "Final recommendations for Parliamentary constituencies in the counties of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay". Boundary Commission for England. 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, pp.133, 244 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
↑ UK General Election results: May 1979 [Archive]
↑ UK General Election results: June 1983 [Archive]
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.133 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
↑ The 1997 election result has swings relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
1 2 Oliver Colvile, Official PPC Website

Sources

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

Constituencies in South West England (55)

Conservative (51)	Bath Bournemouth East Bournemouth West Bridgwater and West Somerset Bristol North West Camborne and Redruth Central Devon Cheltenham Chippenham Christchurch Devizes East Devon Filton and Bradley Stoke Forest of Dean Gloucester Kingswood Mid Dorset and North Poole Newton Abbot North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Somerset North Somerset North Swindon North Wiltshire Plymouth Moor View Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Poole Salisbury Somerton and Frome South Dorset South East Cornwall South Swindon South West Devon South West Wiltshire St Austell and Newquay St Ives Stroud Taunton Deane Tewkesbury The Cotswolds Thornbury and Yate Tiverton and Honiton Torbay Torridge and West Devon Totnes Truro and Falmouth Wells West Dorset Weston-super-Mare Yeovil

Labour (4)	Bristol East Bristol South Bristol West Exeter

South West England European constituency: Conservative (2) Green (1) Labour (1) UKIP (2)

Coordinates: 50°22′N 4°08′W / 50.37°N 4.14°W / 50.37; -4.14

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