Comments on: Luton North

By: Andy JS

Andy JS — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:51:21 +0000

On this occasion the Guardian proposals seem to have “accidentally” turned out to be almost correct. The Wells notionals are as follows:

Con: 20,870
Lab: 20,813
LD: 5,893

By: Andy JS

Andy JS — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:13:43 +0000

The Guardian’s notional figures for the proposed Luton North & Dunstable constituency put the seat on a knife-edge:

Lab: 20,325
Con: 20,246
LD: 7,358

By: Max Luton

Max Luton — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:21:10 +0000

Bob- That’s not fair. Jeremy’s a very clever guy and fought very very hard. He came up against one of the most popular local MPs in the Country and there is no local tory party support. He was never going to win here.

By: Ben Foley

Ben Foley — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:54:32 +0000

On the blog part of this site (…/blog/archives/2753?cp=5) I have posted on what I think the impact of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill would be on Bedfordshire.

It looks like Luton isn’t big enough for 2 constituencies, while Bedford Borough and Central Beds together will be allocated 4 (much as at present). Luton will, I think have to take in some voters from Hertfordshire somehow, and the requirement to be within +or- 5% of the UK quota size will, mean boundary changes. I anticipate that Luton North would perhaps be of suitable size with the addition of Dallow Ward, or Biscot Ward (perhaps with High Town).

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:58:46 +0000

Funnily enough of those that won, Nicola Blackwood must have been one of the least fancied. Only Bristol NW was a certain gain but of the others certainly Somerton, Westminster North and perhaps Hammersmith looked more likely gains than OxWAb. Of those seats I would only have said Kingston was a no hoper although I thought it unlikely the Tories would gain either Perth or Luton North.
Kulveer Ranger is often on the local London news and seems quite impressive and to have a bright future ahead of him

By: Barnaby JL Marder

Barnaby JL Marder — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:40:20 +0000

Thanks for that Richard, good explanation.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:38:13 +0000

Barnaby

The ‘Tatler Tories’ were 10 Conservative A Listers who at the height of Cameroonian hubris (Summer 2008) appeared in a photoshoot for Tatler magazine.

They were:

Shaun Bailey “Tipped as future Home Secretary” – Hammersmith, lost

Mark Clarke “Tipped as future Trade and Industry Secretary” – Tooting, lost

Joanne Cash “Tipped as future Housing Minister” – Westminster N, lost

Annunziata Rees-Mogg “Tipped as future Defence Secretary” – Somerton, lost

Peter Lyburn “tipped as future Environment Secretary” – Perth, lost

Charlotte Leslie “Tipped as future Education Secretary” – Bristol NW, won

Jeremy Brier “Tipped as future Chancellor” – Luton N, lost

Nicola Blackwood “Tipped as future Foreign Secretary” – Oxford W, won

Helen Whately “Tipped as future Health Secretary” – Kingston, lost

Kulveer Ranger “Tipped as future Transport Secretary” – didn’t stand but was Conservative Vice-Chairman for Cities.

By: Andy JS

Andy JS — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:58:30 +0000

Not sure if Beds would lose a seat with 600 constituencies. If it did the pre-1997 boundaries in Luton could be a possible outcome and therefore Luton North would become a plausible target again as your figures suggest.

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:53:00 +0000

Although Flitwick itself is not always that strongly Conservative and may well itself have voted Labour in 1997 and/or 2001. I expect it would have been very close this year on those old boundaries. These would remove Saints ward of Luton which is probably worth about 1,000 of the Labour majority so the Conservatives would need to be around 6,500 ahead in the rural wards. I haven’t worked out figures for this election but in the comparable year of 1992 they were just under 7,000 votes ahead in that territory so as I say very close

By: Andy JS

Andy JS — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:02:28 +0000

I wonder what the result in the pre-1997 Luton North would have been. The areas outside Luton included in that seat were strongly Conservative IIRC. I think Flitwick was in the constituency then.