Post by batman on Jul 6, 2023 7:32:05 GMT
Edited to take into account the 2024 election result.
TWICKENHAM
This seat has existed since 1918, and its boundaries changed only slightly from that time (except during the period 1983-1997 when East Twickenham was controversially absent from the seat), until the 2024 boundary change that removed Whitton ward from the constituency, thus splitting the Whitton community as Heathfield ward has remained in the seat as before. It has always been regarded as a largely prosperous and pleasant area of outer South-West London (geographically accurate, even though it lies on the historically Middlesex side of the River Thames) 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 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, though this derivation is disputed by some), the generally less fashionable western part of the Whitton community, as represented by Heathfield ward (although some of that ward is postally in Hounslow) 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. 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 an even 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 in 2019 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 the one solitary Conservative councillor elected in 2022 (the nonogenarian Geoffrey Samuel, once a Labour member of the old Twickenham Borough Council and the last pre-London borough councillor remaining on a London borough council) died in late 2023. It would probably take another meltdown of 2015 proportions to give the Tories much of a chance here for a while at least, and in 2024 the result was disastrous for them. Their vote dropped by fully 17.5%, with the Liberal Democrat share remaining almost constant, and those of both Labour and ReformUK rising quite a bit, the former perhaps being a bit of tactical unwind by Labour sympathizers who knew that Munira Wilson, defending the seat for the first time since her 2019 retention for the Liberal Democrats, was home and dry. This is one of the very safest Liberal Democrat seats in the land and the only battle of consequence here at the next election is that for second place.
TWICKENHAM
This seat has existed since 1918, and its boundaries changed only slightly from that time (except during the period 1983-1997 when East Twickenham was controversially absent from the seat), until the 2024 boundary change that removed Whitton ward from the constituency, thus splitting the Whitton community as Heathfield ward has remained in the seat as before. It has always been regarded as a largely prosperous and pleasant area of outer South-West London (geographically accurate, even though it lies on the historically Middlesex side of the River Thames) 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 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, though this derivation is disputed by some), the generally less fashionable western part of the Whitton community, as represented by Heathfield ward (although some of that ward is postally in Hounslow) 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. 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 an even 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 in 2019 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 the one solitary Conservative councillor elected in 2022 (the nonogenarian Geoffrey Samuel, once a Labour member of the old Twickenham Borough Council and the last pre-London borough councillor remaining on a London borough council) died in late 2023. It would probably take another meltdown of 2015 proportions to give the Tories much of a chance here for a while at least, and in 2024 the result was disastrous for them. Their vote dropped by fully 17.5%, with the Liberal Democrat share remaining almost constant, and those of both Labour and ReformUK rising quite a bit, the former perhaps being a bit of tactical unwind by Labour sympathizers who knew that Munira Wilson, defending the seat for the first time since her 2019 retention for the Liberal Democrats, was home and dry. This is one of the very safest Liberal Democrat seats in the land and the only battle of consequence here at the next election is that for second place.
