Beckenham
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 22982 (54.4%)
Labour: 8737 (20.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 8490 (20.1%)
Other: 2016 (4.8%)
Majority: 14245 (33.7%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 22183 (45.3%)
Labour: 13782 (28.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 10862 (22.2%)
UKIP: 1301 (2.7%)
Other: 836 (1.7%)
Majority: 8401 (17.2%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 20618 (45.3%)
Labour: 15659 (34.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 7308 (16%)
UKIP: 782 (1.7%)
Green: 961 (2.1%)
Other: 234 (0.5%)
Majority: 4959 (10.9%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 23084 (42.5%)
Labour: 18131 (33.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 9858 (18.1%)
Referendum: 1663 (3.1%)
Other: 1614 (3%)
Majority: 4953 (9.1%)
Boundary changes: Major. Due to the new cross-borough seat with Lewisham there are major changes to the Beckenham seat, which loses Penge & Cator, Crystal Palace and Clock House to Lewisham West and Penge. At the same time it gains Bromley Common and Keston, most of Hayes and Coney Hall ward and part of Shortlands.
Profile: A south-east London suburban seat covering Hayes, West Wickham, Shortlands, Coney Hall, Keston, Bromley Common and Beckenham itself.Beckenham was already a safe Conservative seat before boundary changes, with the swathe of affluent, leafy, middle-class Bromley suburbia outweighing the more inner-city Penge and Crystal Palace part of the seat. With the removal of the northern part of the seat to form the new cross-brough Lewisham West and Penge seat, and the addition of strongly Conservative wards to the south the remainder of Beckenham becomes a Conservative stronghold – in fact on Rallings and Thrasher`s notional figures it is now the safest Conservative seat in the country.
The seat has always returned a Conservative MP, their majority even surviving the by-election following Piers Merchant`s resignation over a relationship with a teenage researcher in 1997. Jacqui Lait won the by-election with a majority a little over a thousand, but has built up a substantial majority since then. The boundary changes will make it unsurmountable.
Outgoing MP: Jacqui Lait(Conservative) born 1947, Paisley. Educated at Paisley Grammar and Strathclyde University. Former parliamentary consultant. Contested Strathclyde West in 1984 European elections. Contested Tynebridge by-election 1985. MP for Hastings and Rye from 1992 to 1997. First elected as MP for Beckenham in 1997. Former PPS to William Hague and the first female tory whip from 1996-1997, pensions spokesman 2000-2001, shadow secretary of state for Scotland 2001-2003, home affairs spokesman 2003-2005, shadow minister for London 2005-2007, shadow junior minister for communities and local government since 2007. She is married to Peter Jones, former parliamentary candidate in Edinburgh and now Leader of East Sussex County Council. Will stand down at the next election (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Bob Stewart (Conservative) Educated at Sandhurst. Retired Colonel. He commanded the Cheshire Regiment in Northern Ireland, and was the commanding officer of UN forces in Bosnia from 1992-1993.
Damian Egan (Labour) born 1982. Educated at Hanham High School, Bristol and St Mary`s College, Twickenham. IT training consultant. Contested Weston-super-Mare 2005.
Stephen Jenkins (Liberal Democrat)
Ann Garrett (Green) born 1942. Educated at Central School of Speech and Drama. Teacher and lecturer. Contested Bexley and Bromley in London assembly elections 2004. Contested Bromley and Chislehurst 2005, 2006 by-election.Owen Brolly (UKIP)
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 81653
Male: 48%
Female: 52%
Under 18: 21.3%
Over 60: 23.1%
Born outside UK: 9.7%
White: 93.2%
Black: 1.7%
Asian: 2.5%
Mixed: 1.7%
Other: 1%
Christian: 73.9%
Hindu: 1.3%
Muslim: 1.4%
Full time students: 2.7%
Graduates 16-74: 25.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 19.2%
Owner-Occupied: 81.3%
Social Housing: 8.7% (Council: 0.8%, Housing Ass.: 7.9%)
Privately Rented: 8.1%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.5%
Christian, I think the only think to add to your analysis is that the electorate on Sunday was not representative of the electorate of Beckenham. The age-profile, sex-profile and political preference were all very skewed.
I don’t think the electorate in Beckenham (with a few exceptions and that’s the case anywhere) would have a problem voting for an Asian candidate , although you may be right to say, winning the Primary was a different vote altogether.
I don’t tend to consider Beckenham to be “very wealthy” although it’s clearly an area that’s very comfortably off. Are there any stats which measure this by constituency?
I suppose it depends on if the Asian candidate is seen as sectarian or not. Most Asian MP’s frankly have been pretty unimpressive
Congratulations to Beckenham Conservatives on selecting Bob Stewart as their candidate; he is an outstanding man and exactly the kind of person one would want representing them in the House of Commons.
I wish him well with the election – excellent choice!
Retaining the Beckenham name for this constituency seems a bit odd given that a chunk of Beckenham won’t actually be in the constituency. Having said, that I’m struggling to think of a decent alternative!