Dover
2015 Result:
Conservative: 21737 (43.3%)
Labour: 15443 (30.7%)
Lib Dem: 1572 (3.1%)
Green: 1295 (2.6%)
UKIP: 10177 (20.3%)
MAJORITY: 6294 (12.5%)
Category: Semi-marginal Conservative seat
Geography: South East, Kent. The southern part of the Dover council area.
Main population centres: Dover, Deal, Walmer.
Profile: A diverse seat with a political tradition which includes coal mining, seaside resorts, a major port and picturesque surrounding countryside. The seat consists of the towns of Dover, Deal and the surrounding countryside.
Politics: The strong Labour presence in the centre of Dover itself made this Labour`s best target seat in Kent well before the 1997 election and during the 1997-2010 Labour government it was their safest seat in the county. It fell to the Conservatives in their 2010 clean-sweep of Kent.
| Con: | 22174 (44%) |
| Lab: | 16900 (34%) |
| LDem: | 7962 (16%) |
| UKIP: | 1747 (3%) |
| Oth: | 1602 (3%) |
| MAJ: | 5274 (10%) |
| Con: | 16739 (35%) |
| Lab: | 21680 (45%) |
| LDem: | 7607 (16%) |
| UKIP: | 1252 (3%) |
| Oth: | 606 (1%) |
| MAJ: | 4941 (10%) |
| Con: | 16744 (37%) |
| Lab: | 21943 (49%) |
| LDem: | 5131 (11%) |
| UKIP: | 1142 (3%) |
| MAJ: | 5199 (12%) |
| Con: | 17796 (33%) |
| Lab: | 29535 (54%) |
| LDem: | 4302 (8%) |
| Oth: | 443 (1%) |
| MAJ: | 11739 (22%) |
*There were boundary changes after 2005
Have to agree with Tristan. Going each day with your husband to court to hear about how he lunged, groped and attempted to force onto several women is bizarre behaviour in the extreme, particularly so given that part of Elphick’s defence was that he was besotted with one of his victims.
Given that MPs constantly tell us about how much work they do I’m surprised she found the time
Find it difficult to believe he won’t go down for this – I think he might well
Polltroll- criticisms accepted. I’m not blaming her at all, I’m actually sympathetic to her predicament. As Tim said, listening to her husbands various shenanigans over the last few months must have been both heartbreaking and humiliating. I actually think marriages can survive a standard affair in many instances, but his behaviour goes way, way beyond that. Prison does indeed look likely.
Scrap all that- she’s just announced in the last few minutes that she is to divorce him.
Just in time for the passing of the no-fault divorce law, too.
Yes, this is very much imprisonable. I mean, an MP in the last parliament went to jail for ignoring a speeding ticket, so by that metric he should be going down for a very long time.
Errr…Fiona Onasanya didn’t get sent to prison for ignoring a speeding ticket, she got sent down for perverting the course of justice (basically, repeatedly lying about who was driving her car). A very serious offence for anyone- particularly an MP- and I actually think she was treated leniently.
To me this whole case once again highlights this culture of entitlement that affects way too many of today’s Parliamentarians.
Were Elphicke a single man or had an ugly or useless wife then one could whilst not justify, perhaps understand his behaviour but from what I can tell he has an intelligent, supportive and reasonably attractive wife at home, which definitely makes his actions more morally deplorable
Just as financial sleaze tends to kill off many Labour MP’s climb up the greasy pole, it’s always been sexual sleaze that tend to have got better of their Tory counterparts
Charlie Elphicke has been jailed for two years.
He’s appealing.
Does seem a harsh sentence – seems the judge made no bones about wanting to make an example of him, think she might be on slightly shaky ground.
Mrs. Elphicke made no bones that she thought it was harsh, and was still supporting Charlie in his trial in spite of their divorce.
The judge did come across as someone who had already made her mind up about Elphick and was going to make an example of him
Sentence did seem a bit harsh by UK standards. I hope for his own sake that Elphick drops the ‘arrogant Tory attitude’ whilst inside. A bit of humility might serve him well