Norfolk North
2010 Results:
Conservative: 15928 (32.07%)
Labour: 2896 (5.83%)
Liberal Democrat: 27554 (55.48%)
UKIP: 2680 (5.4%)
Green: 508 (1.02%)
Independent: 95 (0.19%)
Majority: 11626 (23.41%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 26416 (52.6%)
Conservative: 18239 (36.3%)
Labour: 4691 (9.3%)
Other: 915 (1.8%)
Majority: 8177 (16.3%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 20909 (35.5%)
Labour: 5447 (9.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 31515 (53.4%)
UKIP: 978 (1.7%)
Other: 116 (0.2%)
Majority: 10606 (18%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 23495 (41.8%)
Labour: 7490 (13.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 23978 (42.7%)
UKIP: 608 (1.1%)
Green: 649 (1.2%)
Majority: 483 (0.9%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 21456 (36.5%)
Labour: 14736 (25.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 20163 (34.3%)
Referendum: 2458 (4.2%)
Majority: 1293 (2.2%)
Boundary changes: Previously co-terminous with North Norfolk council, the new seat loses several wards in the south-west of the district to the new Broadland seat, most notably the town of Fakenham and the Catholic shrine of Walsingham.
Profile: A long, thin rural seat, stretching along the northern coast of Norfolk from Wells-next-the-Sea to the Norfolk broads and taking in much of the Norfolk Coast area of natural beauty. The area is made up of small villages and towns, Victorian beach resorts from a time before the Beeching cuts, fishing villages and market towns. Quiet, sleepy and remote – even the largest towns like Cromer have populations under 10,000 – and, like many coastal seats, it has one of the highest proportions of elderly people of any constituency in the UK.
North Norfolk had been a Labour seat in the 1950s and 1960s but the Labour rural vote has declined and Labour`s support has largely vanished. It was a very safe Conservative seat for Ralph Howell for 27 years until 1997. He was briefly replaced by David Prior, the son of former cabinet minster Jim Prior, who managed to hold on with only a 2.2% majority in 1992 before losing the seat to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 by a wafer thin majority of 483. The marginality of the seat and the high profile Conservative candidate – the blogger, commentator and Politicos bookshop founder Iain Dale – meant the seat received much attention in 2005, but in the end Norman Lamb easily retained his seat with a majority of over 10,000.
Current MP: Norman Lamb(Liberal Democrat) born 1957. Educated at Wymondham College and Leicester University. Employment lawyer. Norwich councillor 1987-1991. Contested Norfolkl North 1992, 1997. First elected as MP for Norfolk North in 2001. PPS to Charles Kennedy 2003-2005, Lib Dem shadow secretary for the DTU 2004-2006, briefly Chief of Staff to Menzies Campbell in 2006 before becoming Lib Dem shadow health secretary in 2006 (more information at They work for you)
Trevor Ivory (Conservative) born 1978. Educated at St Andrews School, Crawley and the University of East Anglia. Solicitor, specialising in planning.
Phil Harris (Labour) Former Norwich councillor. Contested North Norfolk 2005.Norman Lamb(Liberal Democrat) born 1957. Educated at Wymondham College and Leicester University. Employment lawyer. Norwich councillor 1987-1991. Contested Norfolkl North 1992, 1997. First elected as MP for Norfolk North in 2001. PPS to Charles Kennedy 2003-2005, Lib Dem shadow secretary for the DTU 2004-2006, briefly Chief of Staff to Menzies Campbell in 2006 before becoming Lib Dem shadow health secretary in 2006 (more information at They work for you)
Andrew Boswell (Green) Trained as a biochemist and worked in the IT industry. Practicising Buddhist. Norfolk County councillor since 2005.Michael Baker (UKIP)Simon Mann (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 82155
Male: 48.2%
Female: 51.8%
Under 18: 18.2%
Over 60: 32.9%
Born outside UK: 3.2%
White: 99.2%
Mixed: 0.4%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 77.3%
Full time students: 1.4%
Graduates 16-74: 14.8%
No Qualifications 16-74: 33.3%
Owner-Occupied: 71.8%
Social Housing: 13.6% (Council: 10.7%, Housing Ass.: 2.9%)
Privately Rented: 9.7%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 8.7%
I wonder whether anyone can name a candidate who has matched Norman Lamb’s record of increasing his vote share in five successive General Elections?
1992: 27.3% (+2.3%)
1997: 34.3% (+7.0%)
2001: 42.7% (+8.4%)
2005: 53.5% (+10.8%)
2010: 55.5% (+2.0% or 2.9% following boundary changes).
I suppose Trevor Ivory can at least be congratulated for ending the trend of accelerating the rate of increase each time.
What am I missing with Lamb ? He always seems dry and uncharismatic on TV but he is obviously a formidable politician.
Alasdair McDonnell of Belfast South is a contender if with more modest increases at times
1979: 7.9% (+3.2%)
1983: 8.6% (+0.7%)
1987: 13.0% (+4.4%)
1992: 18.7% (+5.7%)
1997: 24.3% (+5.6%)
2001: 30.6% (+6.3%)
2005: 32.3% (+1.7%)
2010: 41.0% (+8.7%)
What an astonishing record! I assume demographic change has worked for him over the period, but nevertheless…
Quite a lot of this is tactical voting from Labour, which arrived in stages, but it is an impressive record of increases.
There are some people who increased their share 4 times 1979-1992 and three times 1997-2005
but the major parties fortunes change with national swings more, so I can’t think of any with 5+ consecutive increases.
A very surprising result here for the Conservatives, though not for the Liberal Democrats.
From the County Council election results last year, which resulted in the Conservatives losing Wells, South Smallburgh and Mundesley, but gaining Melton Constable and Cromer, I suspected things would not change that much.
I expected Norman Lamb to maintain nearish 50% of the vote, but I also expected Trevor Ivory to cut his majority very slightly too. I was very surprised to learn that the Conservatives’ share of the vote fell further on election night.
I suspect that this will be the high water mark for the Lib Dems, however:
Most of Lamb’s support is not naturally Liberal – they firmly backed Labour in the past. In towns like North Walsham and Fakenham for instance, Labour consistently won Council seats there up until 2001. Fakenham’s transferral to Broadland has since occurred of course.
Labour’s period in opposition will help the party begin to reclaim some of its lost ground, and attempt to regain voters who voted Lib Dem, but are disappointed that they went into a coalition with the Conservatives.
Everything hinges on Norman Lamb’s record as a good constituency MP. I suspect he will never lose this seat while he stands, but when he does step aside, I can see this being another Harrogate & Knaresborough.
This was a dreadful result,
I thought there could be a decent cut in the LD lead here, but I’m sure it’ll happen at some point, and hopefully more.
Norman Lamb is 52, JJB. If I were you, I’d check back in 13 years at the earliest.
This is quite a good seat for an incumbent. The population is very dispersed (several small towns and a lot of small villages rather than one large town to focus on as many supposedly rural seats have). So the incumbent has a big advantage on recognition if they work hard – even if you find a big name from one town to stand, that name will mean nothing in 75% of the seat. As Dale found in 2001, you can work very hard and get limited traction.
Does anyone know what happened to Charles Prior, the other brother, who contested Mid Staffs in 1990?
I didn’t realise he was related to the other Priors; that’s interesting.
I wonder whether anyone can name a candidate who has matched Norman Lamb’s record of increasing his vote share in five successive General Elections?
Until May, when his vote shurnk by almost 8%, Sir Menzies Campbell had an enviable record in NE Fife:
1979: 22.98% (+10.37%)
1983: 40.19% (+17.21%)
1987: 44.84% (+4.65%)
1992: 46.44% (+1.6%)
1997: 51.23% (+4.79%)
2001: 51.67% (+0.44%)
2005: 52.1% (+0.43%)