Kensington (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974–1997 and 2010–2024

Kensington
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Kensington in Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	64,609 (December 2019)
2010–2024
Created from	Kensington and Chelsea; Regent's Park and Kensington North
Replaced by	Kensington and Bayswater
1974–1997
Created from	Kensington North; Kensington South
Replaced by	Kensington and Chelsea; Regent's Park and Kensington North

Kensington is a former constituency in Greater London which first existed between 1974 and 1997 and was recreated in 2010. It was replaced by the Kensington and Bayswater constituency, first contested at the 2024 general election.

At the 2017 general election, Emma Dent Coad gained the seat for Labour from incumbent Conservative Victoria Borwick by the slenderest margin in England, 20 votes, the first time Kensington had been represented by a Labour MP. Dent Coad was defeated by Felicity Buchan for the Conservatives at the 2019 United Kingdom general election by a narrow margin of 150 votes.

Kensington was known as the wealthiest parliamentary constituency in the whole of the United Kingdom.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

The constituency formed for the 2010 election comprised the northern and central parts of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in and around Kensington and aligned similarly with the boundary of the Royal Borough of Kensington prior to its merger with the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea. It had the electoral wards:

Abingdon, Brompton, Campden, Colville, Courtfield, Earls Court, Golborne, Holland, Norland, Notting Dale, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St Helens

From 1974 to 1983, the constituency comprised the electoral wards:

Golborne, Holland, Norland, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St. Charles

From 1983 to 1997, the constituency comprised the electoral wards:

Avondale, Campden, Colville, Golborne, Holland, Kelfield, Norland, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St. Charles

History

First creation

The first incarnation of a Kensington constituency in Westminster was for the February 1974 general election, derived from the fairly safe Labour seat of Kensington North, and the overwhelmingly Conservative Kensington South; this was abolished for the 1997 general election. The seat was mostly replaced by Regent's Park and Kensington North which until its 2010 abolition was represented by Labour MPs, being won twice during the Blair Ministry, and was partly replaced by Kensington and Chelsea which was held by Malcolm Rifkind (Conservative) until his resignation at the 2015 general election.

Summary of results (first creation)

The old seat returned Conservative MPs from 1974 up to and including its last general election in 1992. At its sole by-election in 1988 the seat was won by its smallest majority, a highly marginal 3.4% – a by-election which saw a majority turnout and a Labour splinter party candidate, for the Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988) achieve fourth place attracting 5% of the vote yet standing in the year of the formal amalgamation of the main SDP splinter group with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats who stood as the Social and Liberal Democrats and seven years after the formation of the official SDP-Liberal Alliance.

Second creation

The constituency was recreated by adopting the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies of the Boundary Commission at the 2010 general election, combining elements of the two constituencies.

Summary of results (second creation)

The 2015 result was a narrower result than 2010, and gave the seat the 126th-most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. The runner-up party remained the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell by 13.9% to 5.6% of votes cast.

In the June 2017 election, three recounts occurred, the first two producing extremely close results with the latter producing a Labour majority of only 20+ votes. After the two recounts due to fatigue among the staff the counting was suspended to allow them to "rest and recuperate". The third recount gave Labour a majority of 20, the first time the constituency had become a Labour seat since its creation, and made it the Labour Party's most vulnerable seat.

Constituency profile

Kensington is mostly residential — housing varies between the expensive apartments with manicured garden squares or terraces of South Kensington, that has some of the most exclusive real estate in the world located in the West End of London and, by contrast, North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove have, for the most part, dense social housing, tower blocks in output areas in inner West London with high rankings in the 2000-compiled Index of Multiple Deprivation. Kensington High Street is an upmarket shopping hub, Kensington Palace is the residence of members of the Royal Family, and Kensington Palace Gardens is the site of many embassies and a few private residences of very affluent homeowners. South Kensington also borders Hyde Park and includes the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert.

Earls Court, Brompton, Holland Park and Notting Hill have their own characters. Earls Court is less affluent than its neighbours; while it is undergoing rapid gentrification and includes its own areas for the super-rich, there are still old hotels and bedsits around the site of the former Earls Court Exhibition Centre, which extends into the historically marginal Hammersmith constituency. Notting Hill is an affluent, highly cosmopolitan area which hosts the Notting Hill Carnival, led by the area's Afro-Caribbean community. It fell on hard times in the twentieth century, being associated with low-rent flats and multiple-occupancy homes, but has since been gentrified.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member
Feb 1974	Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams	Conservative
1988 by-election	Dudley Fishburn	Conservative
1997	constituency abolished: see Kensington and Chelsea
2010	Sir Malcolm Rifkind	Conservative
2015	Victoria Borwick	Conservative
2017	Emma Dent Coad	Labour
2019	Felicity Buchan	Conservative

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Felicity Buchan	16,768	38.3	−3.9
	Labour	Emma Dent Coad	16,618	38.0	−4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Gyimah	9,312	21.3	+9.1
	Green	Vivien Lichtenstein	535	1.2	−0.8
	Brexit Party	Jay Aston	384	0.9	New
	CPA	Roger Phillips	70	0.2	New
	Touch Love Worldwide	Harriet Gore	47	0.1	New
	Workers Revolutionary	Scott Dore	28	0.1	New
Majority			150	0.3	N/A
Turnout			43,762	67.7	+3.9
Registered electors			64,609
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+0.2

General election 2017: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emma Dent Coad	16,333	42.2	+11.1
	Conservative	Victoria Borwick	16,313	42.2	−10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Annabel Mullin	4,724	12.2	+6.6
	Green	Jennifer Nadel	767	2.0	−3.1
	Independent	James Torrance	393	1.0	New
	Independent	Peter Marshall	98	0.3	New
	Alliance for Green Socialism	John Lloyd	49	0.1	−0.2
Majority			20	0.0	N/A
Turnout			38,677	63.8	+6.8
Registered electors			60,588
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.6

Kensington was the last constituency to be declared in the 2017 general election. The result was extremely close in Kensington, which had been considered a safe Conservative seat. After three counts on 8 and 9 June, which appeared to show Labour majorities of between 36 and 50, counting was suspended due to fatigue. The result was announced later on 9 June.

General election 2015: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Victoria Borwick	18,199	52.3	+2.2
	Labour	Rod Abouharb	10,838	31.1	+5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Robin McGhee	1,962	5.6	−14.0
	Green	Robina Rose	1,765	5.1	+3.0
	UKIP	Jack Bovill	1,557	4.5	+2.4
	CISTA	Tony Auguste	211	0.6	New
	Animal Welfare	Andrew Knight	158	0.5	New
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Toby Abse	115	0.3	−0.3
	New Independent Centralists	Roland Courtenay	23	0.1	New
Majority			7,361	21.2	−3.4
Turnout			34,828	57.0	+3.7
Registered electors			61,133
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.7

General election 2010: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	17,595	50.1	+6.2
	Labour	Sam Gurney	8,979	25.5	−4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robin Meltzer	6,872	19.6	−0.6
	UKIP	Stephen James Cleeve	754	2.1	+1.0
	Green	Melan Ebrahimi-Fardouée	753	2.1	−2.4
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Eddie Adams	197	0.6	+0.2
Majority			8,616	24.6
Turnout			35,150	53.3
Registered electors			65,975
	Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dudley Fishburn	15,540	50.3	+2.8
	Labour	Patricia Holmes	11,992	38.8	+5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Shirley	2,770	9.0	−8.2
	Green	Ajay Burlingham-Johnson	415	1.3	−0.4
	Natural Law	Anthony W. Hardy	90	0.3	New
	Anti-Federalist League	Anne Bulloch	71	0.2	New
Majority			3,548	11.5	−2.7
Turnout			30,878	73.3	+8.6
Registered electors			42,129
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.4

Elections in the 1980s

1988 Kensington by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dudley Fishburn	9,829	41.6	−5.9
	Labour	Patricia Holmes	9,014	38.1	+4.8
	SLD	William Goodhart	2,546	10.8	−6.4
	SDP	John Martin	1,190	5.04	New
	Green	Phylip Hobson	572	2.42	+0.7
	Rainbow Alliance – Payne & Pleasure	Cynthia Payne	193	0.82	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	61	0.26	New
	London Class War Candidate	John Duignan	60	0.25	New
	Anti Left-Wing Fascist	Brian Goodier	31	0.13	New
	Free Trade Liberal – Europe Out!	Thomas McDermott	31	0.13	New
	Fair Wealth & Health	Roy Edey	30	0.13	New
	Leveller Party	William Scola	27	0.11	New
	Anti-Yuppie	John Crowley	24	0.10	New
	Peace – Stop ITN Manipulation	John Connell	20	0.08	New
	Independent Janata Party	Kailash Trivedi	5	0.02	New
Majority			815	3.45	−8.8
Turnout			23,633	51.6	−13.1
Registered electors			45,830
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.40

General election 1987: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	14,818	47.5	+1.5
	Labour	Benjamin Bousquet	10,371	33.3	+3.8
	SDP	William Goodhart	5,379	17.2	−4.9
	Green	Roger Shorter	528	1.7	−0.4
	Humanist	Lana Carrick	65	0.2	New
	Public Independent Plaintiff Party	Muriel Hughes	30	0.1	New
Majority			4,447	14.2	−2.3
Turnout			31,191	64.7	+2.4
Registered electors			48,212
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	14,274	46.0	−5.3
	Labour	Benjamin Bousquet	9,173	29.5	−5.7
	SDP	William Goodhart	6,873	22.1	New
	Ecology	Jonathon Porritt	649	2.1	0.0
	Independent	T.F. Knight	86	0.3	New
Majority			5,101	16.5	+0.4
Turnout			31,055	62.3	−2.3
Registered electors			49,584
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	17,361	51.3	+6.1
	Labour	Patricia Holmes	11,898	35.2	−4.4
	Liberal	Bobbie Vincent-Emery	3,537	10.5	−4.7
	Ecology	Nicholas Albery	698	2.1	New
	National Front	Christopher Hopewell	356	1.1	New
Majority			5,463	16.1	+10.5
Turnout			33,850	64.6	+8.2
Registered electors			52,396
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	15,562	45.2	−0.9
	Labour	John Tilley	13,645	39.6	+6.4
	Liberal	R. Cohen	5,236	15.2	−5.5
Majority			1,917	5.6	−7.3
Turnout			34,443	56.4	−9.4
Registered electors			61,105
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Kensington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	18,425	46.1
	Labour	John Tilley	13,293	33.2
	Liberal	Robert LeFever	8,270	20.7
Majority			5,132	12.9
Turnout			39,988	65.8
Registered electors			60,818
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes

A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
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.
The remaining electoral wards in the Royal Borough involved: Cremorne, Hans Town, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital, and Stanley were lost to the cross-borough Chelsea and Fulham.

References

^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
"The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
"Labour wins Kensington seat for first time ever". The Independent. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
"London's Richest Neighborhood Just Voted Labour. That's Astounding". Bloomberg.com. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
Obordo, Rachel (12 June 2017). "Labour's win in Kensington reflects the area's huge disparities of wealth". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
"The Poshest Neighborhood in Britain Just Voted for Labour". Time. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
Crewe, Ivor (1983). British Parliament Constituencies – a statistical compendium. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-13236-7.
"Conservative Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
"The end of the election has been delayed". Independent.co.uk. 9 June 2017.
"Labour Target Seats 2022". Election Polling. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
"Local statistics – Office for National Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)
"Kensington Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
^ "Kensington parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
"Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
"General Election May 2015 – Kensington constituency". rbkc.gov.uk.
Rawlinson, Kevin (13 March 2015). "Victoria Borwick selected as Conservative candidate for Kensington". The Guardian.
"Jack Bovill for Hammersmith in the 2017 general election". Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club.
"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
"This week: Lady Pearson, Sarah Palin and Joel Weiner". TheGuardian.com. 16 April 2010.
"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Obituary: Nicholas Albery". The Daily Telegraph. 13 June 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 17. ISBN 0102374805.
"Election leaflet for Robert Lefever, Liberal candidate for Kensington, February 1974 general election". University of Warwick. Retrieved 9 June 2014.

External links

Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
Kensington UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

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1983	Barking Battersea Beckenham Bethnal Green and Stepney Bexleyheath Bow and Poplar Brent East Brent North Brent South Brentford and Isleworth Carshalton and Wallington Chelsea Chingford Chipping Barnet Chislehurst City of London and Westminster South Croydon Central Croydon North East Croydon North West Croydon South Dagenham Dulwich Ealing Acton Ealing North Ealing Southall Edmonton Eltham Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Crayford Feltham and Heston Finchley Fulham Greenwich Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith Hampstead and Highgate Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon North Hendon South Holborn and St Pancras Hornchurch Hornsey and Wood Green Ilford North Ilford South Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington Kingston-upon-Thames Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West Leyton Mitcham and Morden Newham North East Newham North West Newham South Norwood Old Bexley and Sidcup Orpington Peckham Putney Ravensbourne Richmond and Barnes Romford Ruislip-Northwood Southwark and Bermondsey Streatham Surbiton Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Upminster Uxbridge Vauxhall Walthamstow Wanstead and Woodford Westminster North Wimbledon Woolwich
2010	Barking Battersea Beckenham Bermondsey and Old Southwark Bethnal Green and Bow Bexleyheath and Crayford Brent Central Brent North Brentford and Isleworth Bromley and Chislehurst Camberwell and Peckham Carshalton and Wallington Chelsea and Fulham Chingford and Woodford Green Chipping Barnet Cities of London and Westminster Croydon Central Croydon North Croydon South Dagenham and Rainham Dulwich and West Norwood Ealing Central and Acton Ealing North Ealing Southall East Ham Edmonton Eltham Enfield North Enfield Southgate Erith and Thamesmead Feltham and Heston Finchley and Golders Green Greenwich and Woolwich Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney South and Shoreditch Hammersmith Hampstead and Kilburn Harrow East Harrow West Hayes and Harlington Hendon Holborn and St. Pancras Hornchurch and Upminster Hornsey and Wood Green Ilford North Ilford South Islington North Islington South and Finsbury Kensington Kingston and Surbiton Lewisham Deptford Lewisham East Lewisham West and Penge Leyton and Wanstead Mitcham and Morden Old Bexley and Sidcup Orpington Poplar and Limehouse Putney Richmond Park Romford Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner Streatham Sutton and Cheam Tooting Tottenham Twickenham Uxbridge and South Ruislip Vauxhall Walthamstow West Ham Westminster North Wimbledon

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