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Post by hullenedge on Jul 7, 2020 11:41:19 GMT
Enoch Powell and his intervention in the February 1974 campaign could have pushed this seat towards Labour (possibly Coventry SW too) besides the unwind of the 1970 swing, the effect of the three-day week in the West Mids and the Tory candidate previously representing miles away Chislehurst.By which you mean Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smith. She had to move there after losing the selection contest in Sidcup to then Prime Minister Edward Heath. Sidcup was separated from Chislehurst as a result of the redistribution, to coincide with new London Borough boundaries, and combined with Mr Heath's previous seat of Bexley. Didn't she choose to step aside for Heath? It's very probable that a local Tory candidate would have held this seat in February 1974. |
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carlton43
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Post by carlton43 on Jul 7, 2020 11:42:41 GMT
"The Brownhills Kipper" is a fantastic turn of phrase. Sounds like the world's least-interesting serial killer. It well with a Bexhill Batter Pudding. Not! NOT !! The 'Dreaded' Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea? |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jul 7, 2020 12:10:36 GMT
By which you mean Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smith. She had to move there after losing the selection contest in Sidcup to then Prime Minister Edward Heath. Sidcup was separated from Chislehurst as a result of the redistribution, to coincide with new London Borough boundaries, and combined with Mr Heath's previous seat of Bexley. Didn't she choose to step aside for Heath? It's very probable that a local Tory candidate would have held this seat in February 1974. It's an odd thing because Bexley and Bromley together gained a seat in 1974 and the redrawn Chislehurst was not less safe than the predecessor (if anything it was more safe, the majority was larger in both 1974 elections than it was in 1970 on the old boundaries). So there was an opening for a new Conservative MP in the area and no need for one of the existing ones to be displaced |
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Post by hullenedge on Jul 7, 2020 12:40:18 GMT
Didn't she choose to step aside for Heath? It's very probable that a local Tory candidate would have held this seat in February 1974. It's an odd thing because Bexley and Bromley together gained a seat in 1974 and the redrawn Chislehurst was not less safe than the predecessor (if anything it was more safe, the majority was larger in both 1974 elections than it was in 1970 on the old boundaries). So there was an opening for a new Conservative MP in the area and no need for one of the existing ones to be displaced Copied via Wikipedia:- www.barneshistorian.com/vm-hornsbysmith.phpMay be mistaken but recall that Heath may have been thinking, at some stage, of moving to another London seat (London & Westminster?). She was 'obliged' to seek nomination elsewhere. |
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andrewp
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Post by andrewp on Jul 7, 2020 13:01:20 GMT
Didn't she choose to step aside for Heath? It's very probable that a local Tory candidate would have held this seat in February 1974. It's an odd thing because Bexley and Bromley together gained a seat in 1974 and the redrawn Chislehurst was not less safe than the predecessor (if anything it was more safe, the majority was larger in both 1974 elections than it was in 1970 on the old boundaries). So there was an opening for a new Conservative MP in the area and no need for one of the existing ones to be displaced Times have perhaps changed, Had Boundary changes happened to force any sitting PM Since Heath into the prospect of a selection contest with a fellow MP, I can’t help feeling the other MP would have been slotted into the Lords or put on every shortlist for every safe vacant seat. |
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Post by David Boothroyd on Jul 7, 2020 14:35:43 GMT
Clement Attlee was displaced by boundary changes in 1950 - his seat merging with three others. He chose to go to a new seat not far away. I wonder if there was a debate at the time about whether he had a right to displace Stoker Edwards.
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Post by hullenedge on Jul 7, 2020 15:16:29 GMT
Clement Attlee was displaced by boundary changes in 1950 - his seat merging with three others. He chose to go to a new seat not far away. I wonder if there was a debate at the time about whether he had a right to displace Stoker Edwards. ' There's a piece in 'Great Figures in the Labour Movement' (p.130)...it was decided that Attlee should not be involved in a hard and bitter campaign against Phil Piratin. |
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