South Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)

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For the sheep breed, see South Dorset (sheep).

South Dorset County constituency

South Dorset shown within Dorset, and Dorset shown within England
Created:	1885
MP:	Jim Knight
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Dorset
EP constituency:	South West England

South Dorset 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.

1 Boundaries
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers a similar area to the borough of Weymouth and Portland and the Purbeck district in Dorset. Weymouth is one of the few large towns in Dorset, but Purbeck is largely rural. The constituency includes Bovington army camp.

[edit] History

In the 1997 election, this seat was won by the Conservatives by a margin of only 77 votes, one of the smallest margins in the UK. The constituency went on to be won by Labour from the Conservatives in the 2001 election, but with Labour's smallest majority in England, at 153. In the 2005 election this constituency was one of the few in which Labour significantly increased their majority. Labour may have been helped with the fact that Tony Blair started his official campaign in this seat. In both elections, the left-wing singer-songwriter Billy Bragg ran an anti-Conservative tactical voting campaign in Dorset constituencies.

[edit] Members of Parliament

1885 — 1886: Henry Parkman Sturgis, Liberal
1886 — 1891: Charles Joseph Theophilus Hambro, Conservative
1891 — 1906: William Ernest Brymer, Conservative
1906 — 1910: Sir Thomas Scarisbrick, Liberal
1910 — 1922: Angus Valdimar Hambro, Conservative
1922 — 1929: Robert Yerburgh, Conservative
1929 — 1941: Viscount Cranborne, Conservative
1941 — 1962: Viscount Hinchingbrooke, Conservative
1962 — 1964: Guy Barnett, Labour
1964 — 1979: Evelyn King, Conservative
1979 — 1987: Viscount Cranborne, Conservative
1987 — 2001: Ian Bruce, Conservative
2001 — present: Jim Knight, Labour

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Dorset South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Knight	20,231	41.6	−0.4
	Conservative	Ed Matts	18,419	37.9	−3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Oakes	7,647	15.7	+1.3
	UK Independence	Hugh Chalker	1,571	3.2	+1.2
	Legalise Cannabis	Vic Hamilton	282	0.6	N/A
	Respect	Berny Parkes	219	0.5	N/A
	Personality and Rational Thinking? Yes! Party	Andrew Kirkwood	107	0.2	N/A
	Wessex Regionalist	Colin Bex	83	0.2	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David Marchesi	25	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,812	3.7
Turnout			48,584	68.7	+3.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

General Election 2001: Dorset South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Knight	19,027	42.0	+6.0
	Conservative	Ian Bruce	18,874	41.6	+5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Canning	6,531	14.4	-5.8
	UK Independence	Laurie Moss	913	2.0	+0.3
Majority			153	0.4
Turnout			45,345	65.5	-8.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Jim Knight MP official site
BBC News article on the 2001 South Dorset election

Constituencies in South West England
Conservative	Bournemouth East \| Bournemouth West \| Bridgwater \| Christchurch \| Cotswold \| Devizes \| East Devon \| Forest of Dean \| North Dorset \| North Wiltshire \| Poole \| Salisbury \| South West Devon \| Tewkesbury \| Tiverton and Honiton \| Torridge and West Devon \| Totnes \| Wells \| West Dorset \| Westbury \| Weston-super-Mare \| Woodspring
Liberal Democrat	Bath \| Bristol West \| Cheltenham \| Falmouth and Camborne \| Mid Dorset and North Poole \| North Cornwall \| North Devon \| Northavon \| Somerton and Frome \| South East Cornwall \| St Ives \| Taunton \| Teignbridge \| Torbay \| Truro and St Austell \| Yeovil
Labour	Bristol East \| Bristol North West \| Bristol South \| Exeter \| Gloucester \| Kingswood \| North Swindon \| Plymouth Devonport \| Plymouth Sutton \| South Dorset \| South Swindon \| Stroud \| Wansdyke
South West European constituency: Conservative (3) \| UKIP (2) \| Liberal Democrats (1) \| Labour (1)