Easington
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 22944 (71.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4132 (12.8%)
Conservative: 3435 (10.7%)
Other: 1696 (5.3%)
Majority: 18812 (58.4%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 3400 (10.7%)
Labour: 22733 (71.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 4097 (12.9%)
BNP: 1042 (3.3%)
Other: 583 (1.8%)
Majority: 18636 (58.5%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 3411 (10.3%)
Labour: 25360 (76.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 3408 (10.3%)
Other: 831 (2.5%)
Majority: 21949 (66.5%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 3588 (8.6%)
Labour: 33600 (80.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 3025 (7.2%)
Referendum: 1179 (2.8%)
Other: 503 (1.2%)
Majority: 30012 (71.6%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: John Cummings(Labour) (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Grahame Morris (Labour) born Easington. Former medical laboratory officer. Researcher and agent for John Cummings. Easington councillor 1987-2003. Martyn Aiken (UKIP)
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 82207
Male: 48.4%
Female: 51.6%
Under 18: 23.5%
Over 60: 22.2%
Born outside UK: 1.2%
White: 99.2%
Asian: 0.4%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 85.2%
Full time students: 2%
Graduates 16-74: 9.3%
No Qualifications 16-74: 43.5%
Owner-Occupied: 63.3%
Social Housing: 28.8% (Council: 24.7%, Housing Ass.: 4.1%)
Privately Rented: 4.2%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 1.6%
“I remember Norman Fowler also dining out on that anecdote years later when he was party chairman and the local election results were showing similarly appalling scenarios.”
I remember after the Canadian Conservative had been reduced to two MPs it was said by IIRC Vincent Hanna on the CH4 politics program that a UK equivalent would leave only John Major (Huntingdon) and Michael Mates (Hampshire East).
So was Fowler unjustly boasting about his majority?
It sounds like he based that on the two biggest numerical majorities at the time. Mates’ was 29,165 and Major’s 36,230
Fowler’s was a mere 26,032 at that time but in percentage terms was bigger than Mates’s because the electorate in Hampshire East was huge.
I shouldnt speak ill of the dead, but Vincent Hanna did often come out with alot of crap
The Conservatives came within a hundred votes of winning one of the seats in Seaham in 2008. This ward does not include the whole of the town but is basically the northern part, where there has been some redevelopment i believe. Even so Labour were 40% ahead in that division in the 2005 CC elections. In most of the other wards in this seat the Tories didnt have candidates, but it differs at least from Bootle in having at least one area where they are relatively strong.
Interesting information about Seaham. I’d always assumed it was just as monolithically Labour as the rest of the seat.
One thing’s for sure: Grahame Morris can buy a flat in London and have no qualms that he might be wasting his time and money doing so.
I suspect if the Lib Dems or and Independent had stood in the ward the Tories would have been much further from taking a seat. Having said that, there is a large new private housing development (East Shore Village) on the site of a disused colliery,most of which has been constructed since 2005, so that might account for increased Tory strength. Interestingly, this ward also features a 5-star hotel at Seaham Hall, a former stately home famous for its connections with Lord Byron.