Post by batman on Jan 8, 2024 10:21:01 GMT
edited to take into account the 2024 general election result
PECKHAM
In his novelty record 'Ello John Gotta New Motor of several decades ago, comedian Alexei Sayle asks the listener "Is there life in Peckham?", after previously asking if this applies to Mars. The answer is emphatically Yes, as the electorate of the outgoing Camberwell & Peckham constituency was by the time of the last boundary review some 10,000 above acceptable quota, and boundary changes therefore excised both Camberwell Green and Peckham Rye ward, as well as Champion Hill; they all departed from the seat to be replaced only by the North Walworth ward, thus one might say uniting the Walworth community in one constituency which is not always the case. Although a minority of the Camberwell community has remained in the seat, it has now regained its former concise name of Peckham. Also included, as well as the above areas both old and new, in a rather oddly-shaped salient to the south-east, is Nunhead which abuts Peckham and lies in a ward now called Nunhead and Queens Road. This is the only ward in the constituency which currently sees any meaningful challenge to the Labour Party, and while there is much human life in Peckham, in terms of electoral competition life is much more restricted.
Peckham is a large district of inner south-east London which has had a predominantly working-class social composition throughout living memory, though in the more distant past it was somewhat less the case; however, both Peckham as a community and the constituency as a whole actually have an above-average number of workers in managerial positions and the phrase "it's complicated" could legitimately be used when discussing social class in the area and the constituency as a whole. Peckham does not generally feature on the list of places that tourists are likely to visit when in London, but it is certainly well-known, especially to those who are regular television viewers, as it is the setting for two notable sitcoms, albeit ones of a contrasting nature. The ever-popular Only Fools and Horses is set (though not filmed) in Peckham, featuring council tower blocks and a down-at-heel pub amongst other locations. It paints a picture of Peckham as a mostly White working-class community, but this has not been the case for a good many years now, as it is Peckham, not Brixton as is the popular belief of many, which is the major centre of Black population, not only in London but also Britain as a whole. For many years, this constituency and its 1997-2024 linear predecessor of Camberwell & Peckham have had the largest number of Black electors in the land. This Black community was once heavily of Caribbean heritage, but things have changed in the last generation, and now there are actually more people here of African than of Caribbean heritage, in common with many inner areas of London. The other sitcom in question, Desmond's, set mainly in a barber's shop, is a little closer to real life in modern Peckham, most of its characters being of Caribbean heritage. Peckham and its constituency, however drawn, also has another superlative, a very high proportion of council-built housing, which currently is indeed the highest proportion to be seen in any British constituency for which figures are available. Some of this council housing has not aged well, and the Aylesbury estate has now been demolished. There have been well-publicised social problems including serious crime on some of these estates, including the tragic murder in 2000 of Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old Nigerian-born schoolboy. Both Black Africans and Black Caribbeans continue to be far more likely to vote Labour than for any other party, and coupled with the very high proportion of council housing it is not surprising that Labour has a monolithic advantage in the Peckham community as a whole. Peckham ward itself is particularly crushingly safe, but Labour faces no serious challenge in any of the wards in the community and has not done for a long time now. There are some trendier enclaves here and there, but this is mostly ungentrified territory. Peckham Rye traditionally has been the more prosperous part of Peckham, and has more in common with Dulwich than Peckham itself in many ways. It was able to elect Conservative councillors well within many people's living memory, but it has now departed the constituency as stated above, leaving its social composition even more working-class and its Black community proportionately larger still, if anything.
To the north of Peckham lie Walworth and those parts of Camberwell which remain included in the seat. Walworth has had if anything a longer unbroken period of being a heavily working-class area even than Peckham. It is thought by many, including by the man himself, to have been the birthplace of Sir Charles Chaplin, the world's leading comic actor of the silent films of the early 20th century who went on to enjoy further success in talking films, including the Great Dictator. Chaplin's upbringing was in abject poverty and it remains a mostly working-class area with further council estates. Some of its streets have seen a little gentle gentrification and do have some residents in senior executive positions, but this is not the predominant demographic of the area. Here too there is a large Black community, though there is a rather larger White population than in Peckham. Labour does generally see a bit more competition to win local elections in these parts, with a bit of a coherent Green vote starting to become evident, but still wins with great ease for the most part, much more so than in wards not far away which have continued to elect at least some Liberal Democrat councillors, a commodity rarely if ever to be seen in this constituency. Camberwell in days of yore was distinctly socially mixed; perhaps the most famous Cockney song of all, Knocked 'Em In The Old Kent Road, talks of the song's subject having a "rich Uncle Tom of Camberwell" who died and left the song's subject, Bill, his donkey, Shay. However, the uncle probably hailed from the more southern part of Camberwell, heading towards Dulwich, and probably did not live in this constituency as it will now be drawn. Those parts of Camberwell still included are not really all that different in character from Peckham.
The remaining principal area, Nunhead, lies in the south-east not only of the constituency but also of the borough of Southwark. It is still an inner-city area but it is a little trendier than most of the rest of the seat, having a rather similar vibe to some wards in Lambeth a couple of miles away. It alone in this constituency sees Labour at least face a worthwhile challenge at the ballot box, and the Nunhead and Queen's Road ward in which it lies had a strong Green Party vote at the last council elections. However, even here it was not all that close, and Labour won with a reasonably comfortable, though not overwhelming, majority. One of the extremely unsuccessful Conservative candidates was Ian Twinn, Conservative MP for Edmonton from 1983 to 1997. He was one of several former Tory MPs defeated in the 2022 London borough elections, but none obtained as few votes as he did.
From 1982 right up to 2024 most of this territory had the same MP, Labour's Harriet Harman, who is now the longest continuously serving female MP in parliamentary history, though she was still only in her early seventies at the time of her retirement from the House. She has served in a Labour Cabinet and has also led the Party although only temporarily on a caretaker basis, having previously been elected Deputy Leader. She decided not to seek a further term and Labour selected in her place Miatta Fahnbulleh, a Liberian-born economist regarded by many as one of the likeliest of the 2024 intake to achieve future high office. This constituency along with Camberwell & Peckham has consistently been amongst Labour's very safest seats in London, at times the very safest, and Fahnbulleh can surely look forward to a very long unbroken period as the seat's Labour MP. The 2024 result saw yet another in a long list of sharp increases in the Green Party vote in inner south London, and here it came mostly at Labour's expense it seems, but it still left Labour with a very large majority, with some wards retaining monolithic pro-Labour voting patterns.
PECKHAM
In his novelty record 'Ello John Gotta New Motor of several decades ago, comedian Alexei Sayle asks the listener "Is there life in Peckham?", after previously asking if this applies to Mars. The answer is emphatically Yes, as the electorate of the outgoing Camberwell & Peckham constituency was by the time of the last boundary review some 10,000 above acceptable quota, and boundary changes therefore excised both Camberwell Green and Peckham Rye ward, as well as Champion Hill; they all departed from the seat to be replaced only by the North Walworth ward, thus one might say uniting the Walworth community in one constituency which is not always the case. Although a minority of the Camberwell community has remained in the seat, it has now regained its former concise name of Peckham. Also included, as well as the above areas both old and new, in a rather oddly-shaped salient to the south-east, is Nunhead which abuts Peckham and lies in a ward now called Nunhead and Queens Road. This is the only ward in the constituency which currently sees any meaningful challenge to the Labour Party, and while there is much human life in Peckham, in terms of electoral competition life is much more restricted.
Peckham is a large district of inner south-east London which has had a predominantly working-class social composition throughout living memory, though in the more distant past it was somewhat less the case; however, both Peckham as a community and the constituency as a whole actually have an above-average number of workers in managerial positions and the phrase "it's complicated" could legitimately be used when discussing social class in the area and the constituency as a whole. Peckham does not generally feature on the list of places that tourists are likely to visit when in London, but it is certainly well-known, especially to those who are regular television viewers, as it is the setting for two notable sitcoms, albeit ones of a contrasting nature. The ever-popular Only Fools and Horses is set (though not filmed) in Peckham, featuring council tower blocks and a down-at-heel pub amongst other locations. It paints a picture of Peckham as a mostly White working-class community, but this has not been the case for a good many years now, as it is Peckham, not Brixton as is the popular belief of many, which is the major centre of Black population, not only in London but also Britain as a whole. For many years, this constituency and its 1997-2024 linear predecessor of Camberwell & Peckham have had the largest number of Black electors in the land. This Black community was once heavily of Caribbean heritage, but things have changed in the last generation, and now there are actually more people here of African than of Caribbean heritage, in common with many inner areas of London. The other sitcom in question, Desmond's, set mainly in a barber's shop, is a little closer to real life in modern Peckham, most of its characters being of Caribbean heritage. Peckham and its constituency, however drawn, also has another superlative, a very high proportion of council-built housing, which currently is indeed the highest proportion to be seen in any British constituency for which figures are available. Some of this council housing has not aged well, and the Aylesbury estate has now been demolished. There have been well-publicised social problems including serious crime on some of these estates, including the tragic murder in 2000 of Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old Nigerian-born schoolboy. Both Black Africans and Black Caribbeans continue to be far more likely to vote Labour than for any other party, and coupled with the very high proportion of council housing it is not surprising that Labour has a monolithic advantage in the Peckham community as a whole. Peckham ward itself is particularly crushingly safe, but Labour faces no serious challenge in any of the wards in the community and has not done for a long time now. There are some trendier enclaves here and there, but this is mostly ungentrified territory. Peckham Rye traditionally has been the more prosperous part of Peckham, and has more in common with Dulwich than Peckham itself in many ways. It was able to elect Conservative councillors well within many people's living memory, but it has now departed the constituency as stated above, leaving its social composition even more working-class and its Black community proportionately larger still, if anything.
To the north of Peckham lie Walworth and those parts of Camberwell which remain included in the seat. Walworth has had if anything a longer unbroken period of being a heavily working-class area even than Peckham. It is thought by many, including by the man himself, to have been the birthplace of Sir Charles Chaplin, the world's leading comic actor of the silent films of the early 20th century who went on to enjoy further success in talking films, including the Great Dictator. Chaplin's upbringing was in abject poverty and it remains a mostly working-class area with further council estates. Some of its streets have seen a little gentle gentrification and do have some residents in senior executive positions, but this is not the predominant demographic of the area. Here too there is a large Black community, though there is a rather larger White population than in Peckham. Labour does generally see a bit more competition to win local elections in these parts, with a bit of a coherent Green vote starting to become evident, but still wins with great ease for the most part, much more so than in wards not far away which have continued to elect at least some Liberal Democrat councillors, a commodity rarely if ever to be seen in this constituency. Camberwell in days of yore was distinctly socially mixed; perhaps the most famous Cockney song of all, Knocked 'Em In The Old Kent Road, talks of the song's subject having a "rich Uncle Tom of Camberwell" who died and left the song's subject, Bill, his donkey, Shay. However, the uncle probably hailed from the more southern part of Camberwell, heading towards Dulwich, and probably did not live in this constituency as it will now be drawn. Those parts of Camberwell still included are not really all that different in character from Peckham.
The remaining principal area, Nunhead, lies in the south-east not only of the constituency but also of the borough of Southwark. It is still an inner-city area but it is a little trendier than most of the rest of the seat, having a rather similar vibe to some wards in Lambeth a couple of miles away. It alone in this constituency sees Labour at least face a worthwhile challenge at the ballot box, and the Nunhead and Queen's Road ward in which it lies had a strong Green Party vote at the last council elections. However, even here it was not all that close, and Labour won with a reasonably comfortable, though not overwhelming, majority. One of the extremely unsuccessful Conservative candidates was Ian Twinn, Conservative MP for Edmonton from 1983 to 1997. He was one of several former Tory MPs defeated in the 2022 London borough elections, but none obtained as few votes as he did.
From 1982 right up to 2024 most of this territory had the same MP, Labour's Harriet Harman, who is now the longest continuously serving female MP in parliamentary history, though she was still only in her early seventies at the time of her retirement from the House. She has served in a Labour Cabinet and has also led the Party although only temporarily on a caretaker basis, having previously been elected Deputy Leader. She decided not to seek a further term and Labour selected in her place Miatta Fahnbulleh, a Liberian-born economist regarded by many as one of the likeliest of the 2024 intake to achieve future high office. This constituency along with Camberwell & Peckham has consistently been amongst Labour's very safest seats in London, at times the very safest, and Fahnbulleh can surely look forward to a very long unbroken period as the seat's Labour MP. The 2024 result saw yet another in a long list of sharp increases in the Green Party vote in inner south London, and here it came mostly at Labour's expense it seems, but it still left Labour with a very large majority, with some wards retaining monolithic pro-Labour voting patterns.
