Election 97

Yeovil

Current MP Paddy Ashdown
Conservative 97 14,946
Labour 97 8,053
LibDem 97 26,349
Nationalist 97 0
Other 97 1,131
Elected party
Yeovil

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Yeovil
Conservative 92 21,890
Labour 92 5,702
LibDem 92 30,634
Nationalist 92 0
Other 92 1,045
Elected party LibDem

The seat of Yeovil in South Somerset is now famous for being the stronghold of Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, but it was Conservative from its creation in 1918 to 1983. It took Ashdown, a former Royal Marine and diplomat, several years of local campaigning before he could seize the opportunity presented by the retirement of local MP John Peyton to gain the seat in 1983. His majority was boosted in 1987 and again in 1992. South Somerset is now solidly behind the Lib Dems, both at local and national levels. Yeovil's boundaries remain essentially unaltered and it is hard to see any other winner than Ashdown this time.


Super Profiles

862 2.04 9.03 23
9,800 23.23 11.17 208
5,030 11.92 11.25 106
7,738 18.34 14.70 125
725 1.72 10.45 16
1,882 4.46 2.81 159
3,042 7.21 8.01 90
9,940 23.56 15.25 155
2,293 5.43 7.13 76
840 1.99 10.17 20