Coventry North East
2010 Results:
Conservative: 9609 (22.15%)
Labour: 21384 (49.29%)
Liberal Democrat: 7210 (16.62%)
BNP: 1863 (4.29%)
UKIP: 1291 (2.98%)
Others: 2026 (4.67%)
Majority: 11775 (27.14%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 21694 (56.7%)
Conservative: 7208 (18.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 6338 (16.6%)
Other: 3002 (7.9%)
Majority: 14485 (37.9%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 6956 (18.7%)
Labour: 21178 (56.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 6123 (16.5%)
UKIP: 1064 (2.9%)
Other: 1874 (5%)
Majority: 14222 (38.2%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 6988 (18.8%)
Labour: 22739 (61%)
Liberal Democrat: 4163 (11.2%)
BNP: 737 (2%)
Other: 2638 (7.1%)
Majority: 15751 (42.3%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 9287 (19.3%)
Labour: 31856 (66.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 3866 (8%)
Referendum: 1125 (2.3%)
Other: 1951 (4.1%)
Majority: 22569 (46.9%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Bob Ainsworth(Labour) born 1952, Coventry. Educated at Foxford Comprehensive School. Former Jaguar worker. Coventry councillor 1984-1993. First elected as MP for Coventry North East in 1992. Government whip 1997-2001. Under-secretary at the department of the environment 2001, then the Home Office 2001-2003. Deputy chief whip 2003-2007. Minister of state for armed forces 2007-2009. Secretary of State for Defence since 2009 (more information at They work for you)
Hazel Noonan (Conservative) Former senior care assistant. Coventry councillor since 2000.Bob Ainsworth(Labour) born 1952, Coventry. Educated at Foxford Comprehensive School. Former Jaguar worker. Coventry councillor 1984-1993. First elected as MP for Coventry North East in 1992. Government whip 1997-2001. Under-secretary at the department of the environment 2001, then the Home Office 2001-2003. Deputy chief whip 2003-2007. Minister of state for armed forces 2007-2009. Secretary of State for Defence since 2009 (more information at They work for you)
Russell Field (Liberal Democrat) Educated at De Montford University. Computer analyst. Coventry councillor since 2003. Contested Coventry North East 2005.
Christopher Forbes (UKIP) 
Tom Gower (BNP)Ron Lebar (Christian Movement for GB)
Dave Nellist (Socialist Alternative) Born 1952, Cleveland. Former Labour MP for Coventry South East between 1983 and 1992, he was deselected for the 1992 for his support of Militant. Contested Coventry South East 1992 as Independent Labour, Coventry South 1997 for the Socialist Party, Coventry North East 2001 for the Socialist Alliance, 2005 for the Socialist Party, West Midlands 2009 European election for No2EU. Coventry councillor.2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 105991
Male: 49.4%
Female: 50.6%
Under 18: 26.8%
Over 60: 18.1%
Born outside UK: 14.9%
White: 78.1%
Black: 2.3%
Asian: 16.4%
Mixed: 2.1%
Other: 1%
Christian: 61.3%
Hindu: 3.1%
Muslim: 6.1%
Sikh: 6.8%
Full time students: 5.9%
Graduates 16-74: 13.5%
No Qualifications 16-74: 36.9%
Owner-Occupied: 65.2%
Social Housing: 21.3% (Council: 9.5%, Housing Ass.: 11.8%)
Privately Rented: 9.1%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 13.9%
Just about the safest Labour seat in the Midlands, and no reason to suspect it changing. Bob Ainsworth is a very popular local man who went to school in the constituency. Defeat for him here is unthinkable.
Labour won all the wards here in May gaining two seats from the Tories (Foleshill and Wyken) and one from the Lib Dems (Upper Stoke). If they repeat that next May it will deliver them contol of Coventry city council.
I’ve been amusing myself by re-reading Richard Crossman’s monumental diaries of ministerial government; of course, he represented this seat from 1945 to February 1974. One interesting feature is the way, when redrawing the boundaries between boroughs and rural areas in his period as Minister of Housing and Local Government, he was very careful to get as much political capital out of the boundaries as he could. Very quietly, he discussed the council boundaries that would lead to the best arrangements of seats for Labour with local MPs and with Transport House officials. The notorious decision of Callaghan to throw out the boundary review before the 1970 election was also a long time in the making; as early as 1966, he and Roy Jenkins were discussing doing this on the grounds that no review should take place before the local government reforms were completed, perhaps with an interim reduction of the biggest 20 or 30 constituencies.
Local Councillor Hazel Noonan has been selected as the Tory candidate here.
Poor lass, she must really have upset somebody to land this seat!
This is quite an early selection by the Tories vis-a-cis some riper targets in the vicinity.
If there is an 18.8% swing (the largest swing in 1997, Brent North), the Tories would still be 0.1 point short here.
This is almost certainly a safe Labour seat.
Yes even with the Conservatives success in local elections in Coventry lately theyve only been able to win the one ward – Wyken – and they lost there last May too. Lower Stoke has been Tory in the past (1992 for example) but they havent made a comeback there in recent years. The Wood End estate in the Henley ward is one of the worst I know (though probably not many people vote there)
Quite a few of the Conservative candidates in the past in this seat and its Coventry East predecessor have gone on to greater things. John Biffen, Ian Gow and John Wakeham all tried their hand against Crossman, and Nigel Forman stood for the new seat – although none since then. Michael Heseltine also stood for Coventry West in 1964, although, admittedly, it was a marginal in 1959.
Coventry West ?
Oh yes I see he stood in Coventry North. Interesting how close it was in 1959, given it was basically the 1974-97 version of Coventry NW plus Foleshill and Longford which are in this seat. That would suggest that both that 1974-97 version of Coventry NW and the current seat would have been Tory in 1959 – one of many urban and industrail seats that were Tory in 1959 but never returned to the fold in the 1980s.
Funnily enough MIchael heseltine was reckoned to be one of the people who Jeffrey ARcher based his characters on in First Amongst Equals – in his case it was Simon Kerslake. Simon Kerslake began his parliamentary career as MP for Coventry Central in 1964 but his seat was abolished in 1974 when Coventry’s representation was reduced. Infact Coventry increaserd from 3 to 4 seats in 1974. I think I made the point elsewhere but I cant think of any configuration of a seat which could be called Coventry Central which would have been a Tory seat at any time let alone in 1966
Foleshill is pretty bad too, although I always thought Hillifields (outside this constituency) won the prize for unpleasantness.
Yes HIllfields is bad but of a different nature – its inner city tower blocks. Sometimes I think these peripheral estates are worse. Wood End is reminiscent of an outer Glasgow estate (I think much of the population originally came from the Scottish central belt). It always amused me when I visited the area that there is a thatched cottage on the main road just round the corner from this horrific estate. I first knew it in the late 80s and early 90s and it had a formidable reputation then but was one of those areas that had tons of money thrown at it for refurbishment etc. I dont know if it did improve for a while but I went there a couple of years ago and it was at least as bad as it had been 15 years previously
I must say though that Coventry generally did have a more prosperous feel compared with 15 years previously, and compared favourably with Wolverhampton in that respect which is in line with what Tangent said elsewhere (on Wolverhampton NE perhaps)
Sorry, it was Coventry North (just realised as I’d posted – sometimes, you really yearn for an edit function here).
Coventry NW would, I think, had been a clear contender for a Tory gain in 1983 had it not been for the particularly harsh affect of the recession on the city.
I always thought that Geoffrey Robinson’s personal popularity might have kept Coventry NW Labour in 1983, but the recession theory also sounds like a good explanation.
“Sometimes I think these peripheral estates are worse.”
I agree, because you have isolation as well as deprivation in the outer estates.
They’re prime examples of bad planning. Quite a few of them were built because it was cheaper and easier to build on greenfield suburban land and develop city centres with commercial projects or low-density estates. They often relied for employment on one single industry, which has quite often vanished since the estate was built, and relied on council incentives such as special public transport fares and routes that have also vanished over time.
Foleshill ward in the Cov NE constitunecy was historically a Labour ward, and Tory gains here were a significant factor in them taking control of the city council. However, Tory Foleshill councillor Altaf Adalat, who won in 2006 by just six votes is under pressure to resign following his cousin’s conviction for election fraud in impersonating other voters in the ward.
The Tories currently hold 28 of the 54 seats in Coventry.
Praguetory (not registered)
This is quite an early selection by the Tories vis-a-cis some riper targets in the vicinity.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
The Conservatives national selection policy does seem rather quixotic. Several other no hope constituencies have candidates such as Stockton North, Sunderlands West and South, Ilford South and various places in Scotland. On the other had there seems no effort to get candidates for various constituencies they ‘won’ this year and also the notorius Sheffield Hallam.
Aggregate votes from the 2008 local elections;
Lab 10170 42.1%
C 6813 28.2%
LD 2288 9.5%
BNP 1692 7.0%
Oth 3199 13.2%
A very safe Labour seat (the only Coventry seat where Labour topped the poll this year) but the Conservatives seem to be favourites to retain second place next time – the only ward we carried was Wyken.
Ironically one of the Labour wards is named Henley.
My prediction for this seat;
Labour 21000
Cons 9500
Lib Dem 5000
Others 4000
Dave Nellist is standing for the Socialists here again
I see Dave Nellist is standing for TUSC.
I googled it to see what it stood for.
The top result is for the Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club. Sadly, he’s not running for them.
Russell Field is standing again for the Lib Dems.
Googling TUSC now has the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in top place ahead of the Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club. The Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club may be pleased that the similarity of their web address will lead to their site getting many more hits than they would otherwise get as a result of people looking for information about the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
Or should that be the other way around?
Well the ukelele has undergone a renaissance partly because of the popularity of the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain. Good luck to the Taunton USC.
That’s a huge Labour majority – I want a protest vote at this election so will probably vote for Nellist as the real Labour candidate. Guess you could half Ainsworth’s vote and he would still beat the Tories in this seat.
Lab Hold= 9,000 maj
Lab Hold
Maj 6900
Lab maj 8,000
Labour 20000
Cons 9000
TUSC 7000 – Nellist is likely to get a rasonable vote as is well known here – only TUSC candidate who is likely to.
Lib Dem 6000 -posibly more through surge.
Christopher Forbes is standing here for UKIP.
The only question here is who will come 2nd.Russell Field and Hazel Noonan are good local Councillors,Dave Nellist is very persuasive but Bob is the Cabinet Minister and people round here like the mantel he holds.May be a smaller swing against him as a result with Lib Dems possibly taking 2nd
I am supporting Dave Nellist. He is standing as Socialist Alternative in Coventry North East. The Socialist Party is standing for the first time across the whole of the city and in all the council seats up for grabs on May 6th as well.
The people of Coventry have the option, therefore, of ditching corrupt establishment politicians and electing fighting MPs on a workers’ wage as well as socialist councillors.
LAB HOLD
I rather like Bob Ainsworth.
He is a proper Labour man,
and puts across his case well, and is straight forward.
I thought he did his best as Defence Secretary, although it’s not a subject I’m knowledgable in,
and the lack of money for troops was probably a wider blame.
Although we have plenty of interesting characters in this new House of Commons,
manufacturing and industrial backgrounds are pretty rare.
This is surely a safe seat.
That comment does you much credit Joe, and I haven’t forgotten that you also said that Kelvin Hopkins deserved to be returned. I will do my best to reciprocate when appropriate!
Thanks – in fact I think this must be one of the safest Labour seats in the Midlands.
Did Nellist beat the BNP?
‘I rather like Bob Ainsworth.
He is a proper Labour man’
I agree
He wasn’t exactly the most effective armed forces minister the country has ever had but he does seem a thoroughly decent man – reflected by the majority he’s built up here – and I thoight the hate campaign waged by the far-right press against him (specifically the Daily Mail) was deplorable and shows that newspaper for what it really is
Lancs Observer – no, Nellist was beaten by the BNP:
BNP – 1,863 (4.3%)
Nellist (Soc Alt) – 1,592 (3.7%)
UKIP – 1,291 (3.0%)
Christian – 434 (1.0%)
A pretty routine, but rather muted, Labour hold in Lower Stoke ward last night:
Lab 1366 (54.1; -3.5)
Con 563 (22.3; -0.2)
Socialist Alternative 254 (10.1; +3.6)
BNP 149 (5.9; +0.1)
Green 114 (4.5; -3.3)
LD 79 (3.1; +3.1)
Majority 803
Turnout 18.51%
Lab hold
Percentage change is since May 2011.