Witney
2010 Results:
Conservative: 33973 (58.81%)
Labour: 7511 (13%)
Liberal Democrat: 11233 (19.44%)
UKIP: 2001 (3.46%)
Green: 2385 (4.13%)
Monster Raving Loony: 234 (0.41%)
Independent: 370 (0.64%)
Others: 62 (0.11%)
Majority: 22740 (39.37%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 25487 (49.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 11706 (22.7%)
Labour: 11534 (22.3%)
Other: 2920 (5.7%)
Majority: 13781 (26.7%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 26571 (49.3%)
Labour: 11845 (22%)
Liberal Democrat: 12415 (23%)
Green: 1682 (3.1%)
UKIP: 1356 (2.5%)
Majority: 14156 (26.3%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 22153 (45%)
Labour: 14180 (28.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 10000 (20.3%)
UKIP: 767 (1.6%)
Green: 1100 (2.2%)
Other: 1003 (2%)
Majority: 7973 (16.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 24282 (43.1%)
Labour: 17254 (30.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 11202 (19.9%)
Referendum: 2262 (4%)
Other: 1401 (2.5%)
Majority: 7028 (12.5%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: David Cameron(Conservative) born 1966, London. Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party. Educated at Eton and Oxford University, where he was a member of hte infamous Bullingdon club. Following university he worked in the Conservative Research department from 1988-1992. Special advisor to Norman Lamont from 1992-1993 and Michael Howard 1993-1994. Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Television from 1994-2001. Contested Stafford 1997. First elected as MP for Witney in 2001, following the defection of his predecessor Shaun Woodward to Labour. Vice-Chairman of the Conservative party 2003-2004, local government spokesman 2004, head of policy co-ordination 2004-2005. Following the 2005 election he was promoted to shadow education secretary. Following the announcement of Michael Howard`s resignation as leader Cameron indicated his intention to stand, being seen as Howard`s preferred choice as successor. His speech at the 2005 Conservative party conference, and a lacklustre speech by the then frontrunner David Davis saw him become the favourite and he was elected leader of the Conservative party in December 2005, despite allegations of drug use surfacing during the campaign. As leader of the Conservative party Cameron has sought to rebrand the Conservative party, making the environment a central plank of policy, pushing for the selection of female candidates and largely avoiding traditional Conservative issues such as immigration. Became Prime Minister at the head of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010 (more information at They work for you)
David Cameron(Conservative) born 1966, London. Leader of the Conservative Party. Educated at Eton and Oxford University, where he was a member of hte infamous Bullingdon club. Following university he worked in the Conservative Research department from 1988-1992. Special advisor to Norman Lamont from 1992-1993 and Michael Howard 1993-1994. Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Television from 1994-2001. Contested Stafford 1997. First elected as MP for Witney in 2001, following the defection of his predecessor Shaun Woodward to Labour. Vice-Chairman of the Conservative party 2003-2004, local government spokesman 2004, head of policy co-ordination 2004-2005. Following the 2005 election he was promoted to shadow education secretary. Following the announcement of Michael Howard`s resignation as leader Cameron indicated his intention to stand, being seen as Howard`s preferred choice as successor. His speech at the 2005 Conservative party conference, and a lacklustre speech by the then frontrunner David Davis saw him become the favourite and he was elected leader of the Conservative party in December 2005, despite allegations of drug use surfacing during the campaign. As leader of the Conservative party Cameron has sought to rebrand the Conservative party, making the environment a central plank of policy, pushing for the selection of female candidates and largely avoiding traditional Conservative issues such as immigration (more information at They work for you)
Joe Goldberg (Labour) Educated at Bristol University. Former political assistant to George Foulkes.
Dawn Barnes (Liberal Democrat) Communications professional.
Stuart Macdonald (Green) born 1946, Glasgow. Educated Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School and Cambridge University. Author and Professor at Sheffield University Management School.
Nikolai Tolstoy (UKIP) Born 1935. Educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst. Author and historian. Contested Barnsley East 1996 by-election, Wantage 1997, 2001, 2005.
Howling Laud Hope (Official Monster Raving Loony) Real name Alan Hope. Born Mytchett. Publican. Leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party since 1999. Contested Teignbridge 1983, 1987, 1992, Aldershot 1997, Eddisbury by-election 1999, Kensington and Chelsea by-election 1999, Brent East by-election 2003, Hartlepool by-election 2004, Aldershot 2005, Blaenau Gwent by-election 2006, Sedgefield by-election 2007, Norwich North by-election 2009.
Paul Wesson (Independent) Educated at Trent Polytechnic. Political consultant, former RAF officer. Former West Oxfordshire councillor for the Conservative party. Contested Witney 2005 for UKIP.
Colin Bex (Wessex Regionalists) Architect. Contested Windsor and Maidenhead 1979, 1983, Portsmouth North 1997, Wells 2001, Dorset South 2005.
Johnnie Cook (Independent) Retired farmer.
Aaron Barschak (Independent) Born 1966. Educated at City of London school. Stand up comedian, calling himself the “comedy terrorist” he was arrested in 2003 for gate-crashing Prince William`s 21st birthday party dressed as Osama bin Laden. Contested Brent East 2003 by-election.2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 95640
Male: 49.2%
Female: 50.8%
Under 18: 22.6%
Over 60: 21%
Born outside UK: 5.9%
White: 98.4%
Black: 0.2%
Asian: 0.4%
Mixed: 0.7%
Other: 0.4%
Christian: 77.4%
Full time students: 2%
Graduates 16-74: 23.3%
No Qualifications 16-74: 21.9%
Owner-Occupied: 73.2%
Social Housing: 13.1% (Council: 4.4%, Housing Ass.: 8.7%)
Privately Rented: 7.9%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.1%
Richard has clarified his position somewhat,
but it then follows that his criticism is that we had some massive Tory failure in winning a relatively small number of people who I doubt were ever serious targets anyway.
If you knock on a door of a house in Kew, in Richmond, as a Tory canvasser, and you detect a kind of Liberal emotive hostility that is not going to be thrashed out logically, by policy, then there is no point trying to convert that person.
That is a Tory hating middle class Liberal, making a general statement.
But if you meet someone who might vote Tory or has done in the past, but is voting Liberal for some particular reason, perhaps by peer pressure, then those are people we might need.
Clearly if he believes any successes we had were nothing to do with the national party, and any failures we had were all their fault, then there’s not much I can say.
I am not a signed up Cameroon, I voted for David Davis in 2005 (and still support him), and Ken Clarke in 2001.
I agree very much with your views of A list candidates – although even there I can’t really attach it to the failure on more than perhaps 2 seats.
I personally think it is now in the interests of the Conservative Party to call another election ASAP. The LibDems have fallen apart whilst Labour are in civil war. A Tory majority is more than likely and would enable them to enact CONSERVATIVE policies rather than surrendering to the LibDems on issues such as AV for example.
It’s tempting with the LDs on 12% (although even I think the reality is it’s probably about 17 or 18)
But as I’ve stated elsewhere, the failure to get the overall majority was in about 25 Labour seats – some of which are the type Richard refers to,
and with Labour support also up since the General Election, there’s a risk we still have a pretty similar outcome in seats as far as Con v Lab are concerned, and we have to go grovelling back to the Lib Dems to prop us up, having tried to dump them.
What then?
But I suppose most of the good things in life are worth a risk.
“I personally think it is now in the interests of the Conservative Party to call another election ASAP.”
I don’t as I like the coalition.
It makes it much easier for the necessary economic reforms to be brought in and many of the LibDem policies, for example raising the basic tax allowance, were better than the Conservative ones. Not to mention I fear a small majority Conservative government would be just a repeat of 1993-1997.
As to Richmond Park I wonder if the Conservative success there was due to the candidates beliefs.
Whether you agree with Zak or not there is no doubt that he passionately believes in the things he does and that is always to be respected. On the other hand I’ve always doubted that Cameron (and Osborne even more so) believed in the principles of ‘vote blue go green’ and ‘hug a hoodie’ but was merely going along with them for political reasons. To be fair to Cameron I have no doubt he does strongly support the NHS and overseas aid.
Perhaps an ‘urban trendy’ would have been more inclined to vote for a ‘true believer’ like Zak than a ‘phoney’ if that’s what they suspected Cameron was.
On this aspect there is no doubt to me that Blair was a much superior politician than Cameron. You couldn’t help feel that Blair was ‘Mr Nice Guy From Affluent Suburbia’ personified, which explains the huge suburban swings in 1997 and 2001. Cameron on the other hand appears to be a posh boy trying to be a trendy boy and wannabes never convince.
Coming from the other end of the unlamented South-Eastern Region, Kent, I suspect that Cameron’s role as a local MP in getting the undemocratic regional authorities abolished will go down very well in Witney.
I am not quite so sure about his angle to promote tourism. In that one deterrent is the unpleasantness of getting through airports, loosening up about this could weaken immigration controls, which people (particularly those near the ports, which admittedly isn’t Witney) want to be effective. Incidentally, if politicians want to encourage tourism, why don’t they look at excessive commission on foreign currency exchange, which is far higher than a generation ago and doesn’t seem to me to bear any real relation to the true cost of processing the transaction? And whilst the pound greatly assists management of the UK economy, the transaction costs involved in changing money are a considerable deterrent to the localtion of industry and commerce in the UK. And I suspect there are associated costs in relation to political popularity
As Prime Minister, Cameron is sure to be opposed by at least UKIP on the right next time, and they could find a campaigning point if it is possible to claim that Cameron puts tourism before effective immigration controls.