Election 97

Bedfordshire South West

Current MP Sir David Madel
Conservative 97 21,534
Labour 97 21,402
LibDem 97 7,559
Nationalist 97 0
Other 97 608
Elected party
Bedfordshire South West

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Bedfordshire South West
Conservative 92 32,000
Labour 92 14,660
LibDem 92 9,475
Nationalist 92 0
Other 92 818
Elected party Conservative

Eighty-five per cent of this seat came from the old South Bedfordshire seat which Labour held from 1966-70. Yet now it looks like another south-eastern identikit Tory constituency. Why? Boundary changes, which moved strongly Labour wards to Luton, provide part of the answer. More important, however, was the historic shift in the political preferences of the skilled manual class - C2s - particularly in the south-east. This voters of affluent working-class and three-quarter owner-occupied seat felt that Thatcherism really delivered the goods - and, judging from 1992, it seems they haven't changed their minds. They will surely return Tory MP Sir David Madel this time.


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