Twickenham

[finsobruce]

Mar 30, 2020 14:21:44 GMT @barnabymarder said:

TWICKENHAM

This seat has existed since 1918, and its boundaries have changed only slightly since that time (except during the period 1983-1997 when East Twickenham was controversially absent from the seat). It has always been regarded as a largely prosperous and pleasant area including an at times wonderfully attractive riverside, and some good open spaces, especially Bushy Park which with its deer, status as a Royal Park and general scenery resembles a scaled-down, but still quite large, version of Richmond Park. It is of course famous for its rugby stadium, which is also sometimes used for major rock concerts as well as for the Jehovah's Witnesses' annual convention; this lies right on the constituency boundary, hard up by Brentford and Isleworth. As well as Twickenham proper (which can be said also to include Strawberry Hill and St Margarets with their eponymous railway stations), the constituency includes also Teddington, where the tidal Thames comes to an end (hence the name, Tide-end-town), Whitton which craves total postal independence from Twickenham of which officially it remains a part, and the Hamptons (Hampton itself, Hampton Wick which rather oddly has Kingston's KT1 postcode, Hampton Hill and Hampton Court, where only a small number of people live). As well as the rugby ground, Hampton Court is a much-visited attraction, a well-preserved Tudor palace beloved of Henry VIII. The area around the palace is one of the most select residential areas anywhere in the seat, but so are parts of Hampton village, Hampton Wick and, close to the river at least, Twickenham itself. But Twickenham is not a completely socially homogeneous constituency; it has at least small pockets of deprivation in most wards if not quite all, and Labour in the dim and distant past has managed to win the majority of them at least once, believe it or not. Most deprived by a little way is Heathfield ward,  which includes some of the less fashionable parts of Whitton. Part of this ward is surprisingly close to Hounslow town centre, and it has two fairly sizeable council-built estates and, with no recognisable shopping area and only a single pub, does seem like a forlorn outpost more than one expects for a ward in this mostly thriving borough. Heathfield is presently the one ward with a serious Labour vote, not just because of its council-built estates, still largely white, but also perhaps because of the growing British Asian vote which has clearly come about because of its proximity to Hounslow, and the existence of more desirable residential streets than seen in that town. Elsewhere, the constituency is largely a somewhat unequal battle between the Liberal Democrats, who have held this seat with only a 2-year break since 1997, and the Conservatives who snatched it in 2015 only to lose it back to Vince Cable 2 years later. Mostly the wards are middle-class, predominantly owner-occupied, and far from poor. The demographic change which at one point threatened to knock the Lib Dems out of contention in neighbouring Richmond Park has not yet eventuated here; although of course there are wealthy financial workers living here, the prevalence of "intellectual" and liberal middle-class voters has perhaps remained here more so than across the river. Perhaps that could be partly because house prices, especially away from Twickenham proper, are just that little bit more modest than on the Surrey side, and that may be down to firstly its further distance from central London, but also to the lack of the Underground which serves Richmond and Kew. For whatever reason, although the modern Liberal phenomenon has its roots on the other side of the river, the Lib Dems today are in a distinctly stronger position here than in Richmond Park, even though Cable's retirement and the big swing away from Brexiteer Zac Goldsmith in the latter seat has narrowed this factor out somewhat. They are able to attract not just tactical Labour-inclined votes in both council and general elections (except to some extent in Heathfield in the former), but also pro-European Conservative-inclined voters. The Liberal Democrats seem to have deep roots in the constituency, and no ward now possesses a full slate of Tory councillors. It would probably take another meltdown of 2015 proportions, or a swingeing boundary change, to give the Tories much of a chance here for a while at least.

From 1918-45 it included the urban districts of Heston and Isleworth, which is one of the reasons Labour managed to come close in the by elections of 1929 (500 votes!), 1932 and 1934.

[Pete Whitehead]

Mar 30, 2020 14:37:18 GMT finsobruce said:

Mar 30, 2020 14:21:44 GMT @barnabymarder said:

TWICKENHAM

This seat has existed since 1918, and its boundaries have changed only slightly since that time (except during the period 1983-1997 when East Twickenham was controversially absent from the seat). It has always been regarded as a largely prosperous and pleasant area including an at times wonderfully attractive riverside, and some good open spaces, especially Bushy Park which with its deer, status as a Royal Park and general scenery resembles a scaled-down, but still quite large, version of Richmond Park. It is of course famous for its rugby stadium, which is also sometimes used for major rock concerts as well as for the Jehovah's Witnesses' annual convention; this lies right on the constituency boundary, hard up by Brentford and Isleworth. As well as Twickenham proper (which can be said also to include Strawberry Hill and St Margarets with their eponymous railway stations), the constituency includes also Teddington, where the tidal Thames comes to an end (hence the name, Tide-end-town), Whitton which craves total postal independence from Twickenham of which officially it remains a part, and the Hamptons (Hampton itself, Hampton Wick which rather oddly has Kingston's KT1 postcode, Hampton Hill and Hampton Court, where only a small number of people live). As well as the rugby ground, Hampton Court is a much-visited attraction, a well-preserved Tudor palace beloved of Henry VIII. The area around the palace is one of the most select residential areas anywhere in the seat, but so are parts of Hampton village, Hampton Wick and, close to the river at least, Twickenham itself. But Twickenham is not a completely socially homogeneous constituency; it has at least small pockets of deprivation in most wards if not quite all, and Labour in the dim and distant past has managed to win the majority of them at least once, believe it or not. Most deprived by a little way is Heathfield ward,  which includes some of the less fashionable parts of Whitton. Part of this ward is surprisingly close to Hounslow town centre, and it has two fairly sizeable council-built estates and, with no recognisable shopping area and only a single pub, does seem like a forlorn outpost more than one expects for a ward in this mostly thriving borough. Heathfield is presently the one ward with a serious Labour vote, not just because of its council-built estates, still largely white, but also perhaps because of the growing British Asian vote which has clearly come about because of its proximity to Hounslow, and the existence of more desirable residential streets than seen in that town. Elsewhere, the constituency is largely a somewhat unequal battle between the Liberal Democrats, who have held this seat with only a 2-year break since 1997, and the Conservatives who snatched it in 2015 only to lose it back to Vince Cable 2 years later. Mostly the wards are middle-class, predominantly owner-occupied, and far from poor. The demographic change which at one point threatened to knock the Lib Dems out of contention in neighbouring Richmond Park has not yet eventuated here; although of course there are wealthy financial workers living here, the prevalence of "intellectual" and liberal middle-class voters has perhaps remained here more so than across the river. Perhaps that could be partly because house prices, especially away from Twickenham proper, are just that little bit more modest than on the Surrey side, and that may be down to firstly its further distance from central London, but also to the lack of the Underground which serves Richmond and Kew. For whatever reason, although the modern Liberal phenomenon has its roots on the other side of the river, the Lib Dems today are in a distinctly stronger position here than in Richmond Park, even though Cable's retirement and the big swing away from Brexiteer Zac Goldsmith in the latter seat has narrowed this factor out somewhat. They are able to attract not just tactical Labour-inclined votes in both council and general elections (except to some extent in Heathfield in the former), but also pro-European Conservative-inclined voters. The Liberal Democrats seem to have deep roots in the constituency, and no ward now possesses a full slate of Tory councillors. It would probably take another meltdown of 2015 proportions, or a swingeing boundary change, to give the Tories much of a chance here for a while at least.

From 1918-45 it included the urban districts of Heston and Isleworth, which is one of the reasons Labour managed to come close in the by elections of 1929 (500 votes!), 1932 and 1934.

Not only that but the entire Southern half of the current constituency (Teddington and the Hamptons) was in Spelthorne before 1945, so in fact the 1918-45 version of Twickenham had possibly more voters within Heston & Isleworth than within Twickenham itself (now the Hounslow part of the old seat outnumbers the Twickenham part by more than two to one, though that won't necessarily have been the case in the 1920s)

[londonseal80]

Looking back through the London local elections, like Carshalton there was some Labour strength in quite a few wards West Twickenham and Heathfield especially but also Central Twickenham, East Twickenham, Teddington and Hampton Hill have elected Labour councillors either partially or at by-elections. I wonder where the Labour strength cane from in Hampton Hill, was it possibly the Nurserylands estate?

[arnieg]

NPL Teddington
St Mary's University
Eel Pie Island

are three more distinctive features of the constituency

[Robert Waller]

2011 Census

Age 65+ 13.2% 542/650
Owner-occupied 66.9% 328/650
Private rented 19.8% 127/650
Social rented 11.3% 528/650
White 85.7% 495/650
Black 1.6% 206/650
Asian 7.9% 155/650
Managerial & professional 51.7%
Routine & Semi-routine 11.3%
Degree level 49.5% 11/650
No qualifications 11.6% 642/650
Students 8.5% 199/650


2021 Census

Owner occupied 66.0% 287/573
Private rented 23.0% 143/573
Social rented 11.0% 475/573
White 80.4%
Black 2.0%
Asian 9.6%
Managerial & professional 51.8% 5/573
Routine & Semi-routine 11.2% 570/573
Degree level 57.1% 14/573
No qualifications 9.9% 564/573





General Election 2019: Twickenham

Party Candidate Votes % ±%

Liberal Democrats Munira Wilson 36,166 56.1 +3.3
Conservative Isobel Grant 22,045 34.2 −3.8
Labour Ranjeev Walia 5,476 8.5 −0.7
Brexit Party Stuart Wells 816 1.3

LD Majority 14,121 21.9 +7.1

Turnout 64,503 76.3 –3.2

Registered electors 84,906

Liberal Democrats hold

Swing 3.6 C to LD

[batman]

Apr 17, 2020 16:51:38 GMT londonseal80 said:

Looking back through the London local elections, like Carshalton there was some Labour strength in quite a few wards West Twickenham and Heathfield especially but also Central Twickenham, East Twickenham, Teddington and Hampton Hill have elected Labour councillors either partially or at by-elections. I wonder where the Labour strength cane from in Hampton Hill, was it possibly the Nurserylands estate?

the answer is yes, partly, but Hampton Hill itself has always had terraced streets of what were once working-class homes, and there would certainly have been Labour patches in the more central areas of Hampton Hill (it has a distinct town centre with a variety of smallish shops, even including the borough's last remaining general music shop). There are also a few council-built roads off the main drag too, mainly north of the town centre. There are of course many very upmarket inter-war suburban semi-detached or even detached roads where the Tories would have had a strong presence (well, they still do to an extent).

[batman]

Apparently Teddington does not necessarily derive from Tide-End-Town; some experts have said it has a different derivation altogether.

[batman]

Mar 30, 2020 15:58:43 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

Mar 30, 2020 14:37:18 GMT finsobruce said:

From 1918-45 it included the urban districts of Heston and Isleworth, which is one of the reasons Labour managed to come close in the by elections of 1929 (500 votes!), 1932 and 1934.

Not only that but the entire Southern half of the current constituency (Teddington and the Hamptons) was in Spelthorne before 1945, so in fact the 1918-45 version of Twickenham had possibly more voters within Heston & Isleworth than within Twickenham itself (now the Hounslow part of the old seat outnumbers the Twickenham part by more than two to one, though that won't necessarily have been the case in the 1920s)

there's enough there for me perhaps to edit my original profile. Thanks Pete, I'd forgotten that. Of course if I were even older than I actually am I might have known that   

[Pete Whitehead]

The only boundary change here is the removal of Whitton ward to Brentford & Isleworth. The ward is electorally typical of the constituency so this will reduce the numerical majority a bit but not affect the safety of the seat.

Notional result 2019

LD	33221	56.3%
Con	20146	34.1%
Lab	4974	8.4%
BxP	711	1.2%
Majority	13075	22.1%