Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 27, 2020 12:45:55 GMT
Apologies for the length of this one...
Stockport has a long history of political prominence for its size. Unfortunately, this includes being described by Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England as “excessively repellent”. Nonetheless, the chief town of the upper reaches of the Mersey has provided a number of crucial political events and figures, as well as some unusual sideshows.
Straddling the River Mersey not far from its union with the Tame and Goyt, the area has been a transport hub for centuries if not two millennia, but has also led to early complications as the town fell under Lancashire and Cheshire at different times and in different parts. Stockport was a major market town as a result of its connections. Stockport briefly became a silk town, but this ultimately vanished and its most emblematic industry, hat-making, took over, only truly vanishing as fashions changed after the Second World War. The arrival of the railways also transformed local fortunes, as multiple major lines converged at Teviot Dale and Edgeley, with the town’s greatest symbol being built as a result: the sweeping viaduct over the Mersey valley. Textiles collapsed in the Fifties and Sixties, and this had a particularly devastating effect on the north of the borough, which has economically never truly recovered. This seat covers almost all of Stockport MBC’s poorer wards. There has been some urban revival in recent years, focussed on the medieval market place and the attractive Georgian shopping streets of the old town. The town’s most famous exports these days are Robinson’s beer and the local football team, Stockport County.
The original constituency emerged as a two-member seat in 1832. Representation was quite varied, with Radicals, Conservatives, Liberals and Labour all holding the seat at some point. The MPs included figures who are now relatively forgotten, but who were extremely important and well-known in their day. Edward Watkin, railway entrepreneur whose schemes are the forerunners to the Channel Tunnel and Wembley Stadium; Louis Jennings, Tory radical and unusually the scourge of the Democratic Party’s Tammany Hall corruption machine; and James Duckworth, the founder of a Rochdale-based chain of early supermarkets (James Duckworth’s, or “Jimmy Duck’s”) that lasted well past his death in 1915 and only eventually vanished in 1975. But it was 1841-1847 that saw the town represented by its most prominent figure to date: Richard Cobden. Cobden was a vehement opponent of the Corn Laws, and at their final repeal, was credited by his political opponent, Robert Peel. Although probably better commemorated in Manchester and elsewhere, there remains a statue of him in the town today. Cobden is still regarded as a major figure in classical liberalism. This first seat was abolished in 1950 and replaced by two one-member seats, Stockport North and Stockport South.
Stockport North inherited one MP, Norman Hulbert. For most of its history, it consisted of the north of the old seat, covering the Heatons, Reddish and the town centre. Marginal, the seat changed hands between Labour and Conservative on several occasions. After the defeat of the Tory Idris Owen in February 1974 (despite the Welsh name, he was a Stopfordian), Labour’s Andrew Bennett held on until abolition in 1983. Stockport South inherited the other MP, Arnold Gridley, although by 1964 this had fallen to Labour, never to return. The final Labour MP, Tom McNally, infamously became one of the “Gang of Four” who formed the SDP. At this point, the seats were abolished, and the new Stockport constituency emerged. Parts can now be found in Hazel Grove and Denton & Reddish (which inherited Andrew Bennett).
The new seat was won by the Conservative Tony Favell, helped by McNally’s new outfit. Indeed, in 1983, the SDP nearly beat Labour into second place. Favell hung on in 1987 but was defeated in 1992 and went on to become a councillor in the Hope Valley. His replacement, Ann Coffey, ultimately enjoyed a safe Labour seat. In 2019, Coffey became Stockport’s second representative to join a Labour splinter group when she defected to the short-lived Change UK. In December 2019, the seat was easily brought back in to the Labour fold by Nav Mishra.
The seat has seen minimal boundary changes since 1983, but the Conservative vote has ebbed away over the last forty years. Demographic change is at the heart of this. Wealthier residents have left for the outer Stockport seats, and Brinnington emerged as a large slum-clearance estate. The Heatons, where the Tory vote could once be weighed rather than counted, have swung decisively to Labour and are popular with those priced out of neighbouring Didsbury. It now seems incredible that the north of Stockport could have once made for a marginal seat here. In fact, 1975 saw the Conservative victors in Heaton Mersey & Heaton Morris and Heaton Moor & Heaton Chapel wards hold larger majorities than the sitting MP.
For reference, Stockport MBC results before 2012: www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Stockport-1973-2012.pdf
Stockport has a long history of political prominence for its size. Unfortunately, this includes being described by Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England as “excessively repellent”. Nonetheless, the chief town of the upper reaches of the Mersey has provided a number of crucial political events and figures, as well as some unusual sideshows.
Straddling the River Mersey not far from its union with the Tame and Goyt, the area has been a transport hub for centuries if not two millennia, but has also led to early complications as the town fell under Lancashire and Cheshire at different times and in different parts. Stockport was a major market town as a result of its connections. Stockport briefly became a silk town, but this ultimately vanished and its most emblematic industry, hat-making, took over, only truly vanishing as fashions changed after the Second World War. The arrival of the railways also transformed local fortunes, as multiple major lines converged at Teviot Dale and Edgeley, with the town’s greatest symbol being built as a result: the sweeping viaduct over the Mersey valley. Textiles collapsed in the Fifties and Sixties, and this had a particularly devastating effect on the north of the borough, which has economically never truly recovered. This seat covers almost all of Stockport MBC’s poorer wards. There has been some urban revival in recent years, focussed on the medieval market place and the attractive Georgian shopping streets of the old town. The town’s most famous exports these days are Robinson’s beer and the local football team, Stockport County.
The original constituency emerged as a two-member seat in 1832. Representation was quite varied, with Radicals, Conservatives, Liberals and Labour all holding the seat at some point. The MPs included figures who are now relatively forgotten, but who were extremely important and well-known in their day. Edward Watkin, railway entrepreneur whose schemes are the forerunners to the Channel Tunnel and Wembley Stadium; Louis Jennings, Tory radical and unusually the scourge of the Democratic Party’s Tammany Hall corruption machine; and James Duckworth, the founder of a Rochdale-based chain of early supermarkets (James Duckworth’s, or “Jimmy Duck’s”) that lasted well past his death in 1915 and only eventually vanished in 1975. But it was 1841-1847 that saw the town represented by its most prominent figure to date: Richard Cobden. Cobden was a vehement opponent of the Corn Laws, and at their final repeal, was credited by his political opponent, Robert Peel. Although probably better commemorated in Manchester and elsewhere, there remains a statue of him in the town today. Cobden is still regarded as a major figure in classical liberalism. This first seat was abolished in 1950 and replaced by two one-member seats, Stockport North and Stockport South.
Stockport North inherited one MP, Norman Hulbert. For most of its history, it consisted of the north of the old seat, covering the Heatons, Reddish and the town centre. Marginal, the seat changed hands between Labour and Conservative on several occasions. After the defeat of the Tory Idris Owen in February 1974 (despite the Welsh name, he was a Stopfordian), Labour’s Andrew Bennett held on until abolition in 1983. Stockport South inherited the other MP, Arnold Gridley, although by 1964 this had fallen to Labour, never to return. The final Labour MP, Tom McNally, infamously became one of the “Gang of Four” who formed the SDP. At this point, the seats were abolished, and the new Stockport constituency emerged. Parts can now be found in Hazel Grove and Denton & Reddish (which inherited Andrew Bennett).
The new seat was won by the Conservative Tony Favell, helped by McNally’s new outfit. Indeed, in 1983, the SDP nearly beat Labour into second place. Favell hung on in 1987 but was defeated in 1992 and went on to become a councillor in the Hope Valley. His replacement, Ann Coffey, ultimately enjoyed a safe Labour seat. In 2019, Coffey became Stockport’s second representative to join a Labour splinter group when she defected to the short-lived Change UK. In December 2019, the seat was easily brought back in to the Labour fold by Nav Mishra.
The seat has seen minimal boundary changes since 1983, but the Conservative vote has ebbed away over the last forty years. Demographic change is at the heart of this. Wealthier residents have left for the outer Stockport seats, and Brinnington emerged as a large slum-clearance estate. The Heatons, where the Tory vote could once be weighed rather than counted, have swung decisively to Labour and are popular with those priced out of neighbouring Didsbury. It now seems incredible that the north of Stockport could have once made for a marginal seat here. In fact, 1975 saw the Conservative victors in Heaton Mersey & Heaton Morris and Heaton Moor & Heaton Chapel wards hold larger majorities than the sitting MP.
For reference, Stockport MBC results before 2012: www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Stockport-1973-2012.pdf
