Croydon South
2010 Results:
Conservative: 28684 (50.93%)
Labour: 11287 (20.04%)
Liberal Democrat: 12866 (22.84%)
UKIP: 2504 (4.45%)
Green: 981 (1.74%)
Majority: 15818 (28.09%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 26617 (51.9%)
Labour: 12374 (24.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 10415 (20.3%)
Other: 1853 (3.6%)
Majority: 14243 (27.8%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 25320 (51.8%)
Labour: 11792 (24.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 10049 (20.6%)
UKIP: 1054 (2.2%)
Other: 682 (1.4%)
Majority: 13528 (27.7%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 22169 (49.2%)
Labour: 13472 (29.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 8226 (18.3%)
UKIP: 998 (2.2%)
Other: 195 (0.4%)
Majority: 8697 (19.3%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 25649 (47.3%)
Labour: 13719 (25.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 11441 (21.1%)
Referendum: 2631 (4.9%)
Other: 759 (1.4%)
Majority: 11930 (22%)
Boundary changes: Gains part of Selsdon & Ballards, part of Croham and a small part of Waddon.
Profile: A seat in the far south of London that has more in common with residential Surrey than the inner city. Apart from Waddon in the north of the seat, which contains a large council estate and tower blocks and sometimes returns Labour councillors, this seat consists of affluent, leafy dormitory suburbs for Croydon and London, places like Coulson, Purley, Sanderstead and Selsdon (the site of the 1969 meeting that set free-market policies for the Conservative party and lead to the phrase “Selsdon man” and the later founding of the Selsdon Group).
This is a safe Conservative seat, held by the Tories since its creation in 1974 (the previous Croydon South seat, once held by Labour`s David Winnick, is a different seat that corresponds to what is now Croydon Central).
Current MP: Richard Ottaway(Conservative) born 1945, Bristol. Educated at Backwell School and Bristol University. Former Royal Naval Officer and solicitor. MP for Nottingham North 1983-1987. First elected as MP for Croydon South in 1992 (more information at They work for you)
Richard Ottaway(Conservative) born 1945, Bristol. Educated at Backwell School and Bristol University. Former Royal Naval Officer and solicitor. MP for Nottingham North 1983-1987. First elected as MP for Croydon South in 1992 (more information at They work for you)
Jane Avis (Labour) 
Simon Rix (Liberal Democrat) Book publisher
Gordon Ross (Green) Born Luton, 1965. Educated at St Georges School, Harpenden and Dundee University. Transport surveyor.
Jeffrey Bolter (UKIP)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 103848
Male: 48.5%
Female: 51.5%
Under 18: 23%
Over 60: 19.9%
Born outside UK: 14.2%
White: 84.9%
Black: 4.4%
Asian: 6.4%
Mixed: 2.7%
Other: 1.6%
Christian: 70.8%
Hindu: 3.1%
Muslim: 2.6%
Full time students: 3%
Graduates 16-74: 25.5%
No Qualifications 16-74: 19.3%
Owner-Occupied: 79.5%
Social Housing: 9.9% (Council: 6.4%, Housing Ass.: 3.4%)
Privately Rented: 8.7%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 5.7%
I’m not sure if Waddon was in Croydon South before 1997 but if it was it must have provided a pretty large proportion of the tiny Labour vote in elections such as 1983 and 1987.
“Virtually all the 1974-97 version of Croydon South was formerly the seperate Coulsdon and Purley UD whereas Waddon which was in Croydon Central prior to 1997 was always part of Croydon indeed in some ways it is part of Croydon’s ‘inner city’.”
If Waddon had still been in Croydon Central would it have allowed Labour to hold on in 2005?
How does Waddon’s racial makeup compare to Jubilee ward in Edmonton?
I’ve just realised that Waddon was probably in Croydon Central before 1997.
“If Waddon had still been in Croydon Central would it have allowed Labour to hold on in 2005?”
If Waddon was added to the whole of Croydon Central as it is now, then it would certainly have wiped out the tiny Conservative majority in 2005. If you mean however if the boundaries had been the same as before 1997 (ie it included Waddon, but excluded Addiscombe, Ashburton and Woodside) then I calculate it would have goven the Conservatives a majority of about 1,000 in 2005.
“How does Waddon’s racial makeup compare to Jubilee ward in Edmonton?”
2001
Waddon
White 77.1% (of which ‘white British’ 70.6%)
Black 11.3%
Asian 14.7%
Jubilee
White 70.5% (53.0%)
Black 18.0%
Asian 8.8%
Obviously these figures will have changed since 2001 with Jubilee’s ethnic minority proportion having probably grown faster. The main difference obviously is the higher proportion of black rather than Asian people in Jubilee also the much larger proportion of the white population who are other than white British, mainly due to the large cypriot population.
Me think that the 1974 – 1997 Croydon Central was the pre-1974 Croydon South. The post 1974 Croydon South was carved out of Surrey East!
Thats correct. From 1974 to 1983 Croydon Central included the strongly Labour ward of Broad Green, which had also been in the old Croydon South therefore on those boundaries that seat would have been Labour in 2005.
This week’s Croydon Post says that Marianne Bowness has been selected to be the prospective candidate for Croydon South for the Unity Party. She contested Croydon Central in 2005 for Veritas.
ConservativeHome says Richard Ottaway has won a confidence vote of the local party membership… apparently about 260 people attended the meeting. It was conducted by secret ballot and no figures were announced.
ConservativeHome says “Mr Ottaway had called the meeting himself in order to discuss the issues raised over his use of parliamentary allowances and seek a fresh mandate from his association”
So it seems this particular MP has no intention of retiring yet.
Despite covering the Southern part of Croydon LBC (or now Croydon City Council), I’m surprised that it was not named ‘Purley & Coulson’. I don’t really see this area as Croydon at all.
I must say that I’m impressed with in how many of these urban seats that aren’t even targets for them the Green Party have selected candidates. They could certainly teach the Conservatives something. I’ve just checked with their HQ and the Conservatives have still yet to select PPCs in over 200 seats! I can understand that they might be leaving NI or Liverpool til the last minute, but they appear not to have selected PPCs in most of Greater Manchester and a lot of Yorkshire.
By my reckoning there are 102 seats the Conservatives have not selected in (almost all of them being in the former Metropolitan Counties or Wales). This also includes the dozen or so Consrervative-held seats where the Conservative MP has stood down.
To compare, Labour have 53 seats left to select (around half being Labour-held seats), and the Lib Dems still have 247 seats to select!!
As for the Greens, they have candidates in 110 seats in total – I would expect them to end up with more like 300 candidates. Being realistic, what targets have the Greens got other than Brighton Pavilion, and possibly Lewisham Deptford?
Brighton Hove, Brighton Kempton, Oxford East, Norwich South and Glasgow North are all very very very long longshots.
Croydon Advertiser reports that Winston McKenzie has abandooned his “Unity Party” so presumably Marianne Bowness is no longer its PPC.
“Former lovers Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have been found guilty of cutting British student Meredith Kercher’s throat after she refused to take part in a drug-fuelled sex session at her flat in Italy in November 2007.” BBC Website.
I think the verdict and the sentences were right. Aiding and abeting in murder is as dreadful and nasty as murder itself.
The Lib Dems have selected Simon Rix here
I’m pleased to confirm that Gordon Ross has been selected as Green Party candidate for this seat. I’ve stepped down to focus on the local elections in Lewisham where I am standing for re-election, as well as our campaign to elect Darren Johnson as Green MP in Lewisham Deptford.
Which seats have included Selsdon?
Selsdon has been in Croydon South ever since the constituency was created in 1974. Before that, what is now Croydon South was in one of the Surrey constituencies, and what is now Croydon Central was called Croydon South.
That would have been East Surrey, before Sir Geoffrey Howe represented it.
‘Before that, what is now Croydon South was in one of the Surrey constituencies’
I presume Selsdon was in Surrey East (as suggested above) from 1918 to 1974. Which seat was it in before 1918?
I believe I wrote quite a long article on the various boundary changes in this part of Surrey on one of the other related threads. Selsdon along with the rest of this constituency (except for Waddon which was always part of Croydon) formed part of the Surrey North East (or Wimbledon) seat.
Geoffrey Howe was initially elected for Reigate in 1970 (having represented Bebington 1964-66). The majority of the Surrey East seat created in 1974 was drawn from the Reigate seat
Cons Hold= 17,000 maj
Con Hold
Maj 17 200
Con maj 18,000
According to yournextmp.com, Mark Samuel, who stood here in 2005 as “The People’s Choice”, is standing again, this time as an independent.
Mark Samuel told me a couple of weeks ago that he is NOT intending to stand this time, but will be supporting a possible other independent candidate. He may of course have changed his mind since then, but my guess is that the website you refer to is misinformed.
P.S. The same list on abovementioned website also lists Marianne Bowness for the Unity Party (which, as far as I know, became defunct a few months ago) and Graham Dare for the English Democrats (who, as far as I know, is expected to be the ED candidate in Croydon Central, not South). Either the list is out of date or there have been a lot of last-minute changes.
P.P.S. Graham Dare does indeed appear to have been transferred to Croydon South, according to
http://www.voteenglish.org/london-candidates/
Perhaps it’s because of the electoral pact with the other Alliance for Democracy parties
P.P.S. Unity is not currently on the Electoral Commission’s list of registered parties.
Jane Avis (Lab)
Jeffrey Bolter (UKIP)
Richard Ottaway (Con)
Simon Rix (LD)
Gordon Ross (Grn)
Only five this time – no Mark Samuel (PCh), no other surprises apart from the fact that there aren’t any other surprises
Conservative majority – 19, 000 with Lib Dems in second place. Labour will come third.
Con 29000
LD 12500
Lab 8000
Green 2000
UKIP 2000
Con maj 16000
CON HOLD
Extremely interesting to see the Labour vote only falling by 4% in this seat, maybe clear evidence that some of the demographic trends that have already affected Croydon Central and Croydon North are beginning to spread into this seat as well.
Yes I think that’s right. It used to be among the Tories’ safest seats.
That’s true but even so Labour did lose Waddon in the local elections, and I doubt that such a demographic effect has been seen in this seat except there and, perhaps, the South Croydon area. It seems to me extremely unlikely that the southern parts of this seat like Purley, Selsdon, Coulsdon & Sanderstead will see much change in the foreseeable future – the population hasn’t changed there much at all.
The BBC has struck again with a bit of poorly researched informtation. BBCi is now reporting that Richard Ottaway used to be in the shadow cabinet as Shadow Environment secretary.
Now I don’t know how long ago that was, but I’ve been following the personnel of the cabinet and shadow cabinet since 1997 and the Conservatives were in government from 1979.
I must have missed that one.
Richard Ottaway failed to win the election to be Chairman of the 1922 Committee, but got a good consolation prize – he is now Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
I presume, perhaps in error, that this term will be his last (he’ll be 70 in 2015).
The site of Croydon Airport is in Waddon ward in this constituency. I may have read elsewhere – not on this site – that it is split between other wards and constituencies (part of the site in Carshalton and Wallington?) Is this correct? I know it was on the boundary of the two present-day boroughs of Croydon and Sutton.
Harry, have you tried the election-maps.co.uk website?
It seems to me extremely unlikely that the southern parts of this seat like Purley, Selsdon, Coulsdon & Sanderstead will see much change in the foreseeable future – the population hasn’t changed there much at all.
Indeed – but change in the northern wards is happening quickly. I cannot see any other party taking this seat in the near future, but, in a 1997-style landslide, the Conservative majority may well be much lower than in 1997 – and some hypthetical seat uniting most of Croydon South and New Addington could even be winnable in a “normal” landslide year for Labour in a decade or so.
I may have read elsewhere – not on this site – that it is split between other wards and constituencies (part of the site in Carshalton and Wallington?) Is this correct?
Broadly speaking, the airport buildings were in modern Croydon, along the Purley Way, and the airfield lay in modern Sutton – the part of Beddington South ward to the east of Foresters Drive and to the south of Stafford Road. Most of the Sutton section was replaced by the Roundshaw estate; the airport is commemorated by the aeronautical names of the streets.
Looking at the 1986 results the Alliance came close to winning seats in Coulsden East and Croham that year:
Coulsden East:
Con: 2446 / 2382 / 2264
Alliance: 2022 / 2021 / 1912
Lab: 345 / 338 / 334
Croham:
Con: 2315 / 2225 / 2189
Alliance: 2117 / 1928 / 1905
Lab: 401 / 399 / 372
Green: 255
Indeed Andy, and the LDs have managed to win one seat of the 3 in Coulsdon East on at least 2 occasions more recently and weren’t beaten there by much last year.
The London Borough of Croydon was formed in 1965 from “Coulsdon and Purley Urban District” and “The County Borough of Croydon”.
Why was this constituency on its creation not called ‘Coulsdon and Purley’ and the 1974 Croydon South retain its name rather than be renamed Croydon Central?
By this logic -
Acton would have been re-named Ealing East (it did not even become Ealing Acton till 1983).
Battersea South would have been re-named Wandsworth Central.
Paddington would have been re-named Westminster North West and St Marylebone Westminster North East.
Greenwich would have been re-named Greenwich North West.
Dulwich would have been re-named Southwark South.