Election 97

Bath

Current MP Don Foster
Conservative 97 16,850
Labour 97 8,828
LibDem 97 26,169
Nationalist 97 0
Other 97 950
Elected party
Bath

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Bath
Conservative 92 25,289
Labour 92 4,761
LibDem 92 27,298
Nationalist 92 0
Other 92 874
Elected party LibDem

The beautiful and sophisticated spa city of Bath created a shock for the Conservative Party Chairman Chris Patten in 1992, just as his party was winning their fourth successive general election across the nation. It ousted him by nearly 4,000 votes, electing instead the Liberal Democrat candidate Don Foster, and it was not long before Patten accepted the challenge of being Governor of Hong Kong in the run up to the Chinese takeover in summer 1997. This effectively keeps him out of the running for the general election this year as well.

Some Tory-inclined villages have been added to the Bath seat by the Boundary Commissioners since 1992, but these will not be sufficient to tip the balance away from the Liberal Democrats. In any case Don Foster has now established himself in this hilly, predominantly Georgian, city, and remains a strong favourite to retain Bath next time.


Super Profiles

1,883 4.93 9.03 55
9,808 25.69 11.17 230
2,716 7.12 11.25 63
3,139 8.22 14.70 56
3,683 9.65 10.45 92
302 0.79 2.81 28
5,473 14.34 8.01 179
7,397 19.38 15.25 127
1,180 3.09 7.13 43
1,502 3.93 10.17 39