Election 97

Peterborough
Result 97 gain
from Conservative
Current MP 97 Dr Brian Mawhinney (Contesting different
Majority 0 ( 0.0%)
Conservative 97 17,042 (35.2%)
Labour 97 24,365 (50.3%)
LibDem 97 5,170 (10.7%)
Nationalist 97 0 ( 0.0%)
Other 97 1,850 ( 3.8%)
Elected party 97
Electorate 97 65,926
Turnout 97 48,427 (73.5%)



1992 MP Dr Brian Mawhinney (Contesting different
Old constituency name Peterborough
Majority 92 6,254 (11.7%)
Conservative 92 26,455 (49.5%)
Labour 92 20,201 (37.8%)
LibDem 92 4,973 ( 9.3%)
Nationalist 92 0 ( 0.0%)
Other 92 1,839 ( 3.4%)
Elected party 92 Conservative
Electorate 92 71,804
Turnout 92 53,468 (74.5%)
Peterborough



Tory change -14.3%
Labour change +12.5%
Lib Dem change +1.4%
Nationalist change +0.0%
Other change +0.4%
Electorate change -8.2%
Turnout Change -1.0%
Robert Waller wrote

The Peterborough constituency has a distinguished history as the site of ultra-close general election battles and may well have such a future as well.

In 1966 Peterborough produced jointly the closest contest of any parliamentary division in postwar elections when the sitting Conservative MP defeated Labour by just three votes. Seven recounts were necessary. In October 1974 Labour finally ousted the Tories in this cathedral city on the edge of the Fens - by fully 22 votes! The Conservatives returned in the shape of Dr Brian Mawhinney in 1979, and have held the seat fairly comfortably since then. But the shakiness of their long-term hold is made clear by Dr Mawhinney's decision to contest the new neighbouring safe seat of Cambridgeshire North West next time rather than Peterborough, which includes most of his present seat. The fact that he is Chairman of the Conservative Party and thus professionally optimistic does not augur well for the Conservatives left behind in Peterborough.

In fact the boundary changes, which take the four wards of the city south of the river Nene into Cambs NW, should not make the Tory position in Peterborough significantly worse. They beat Labour by 5,376 votes in 1992, and it should still take a 5 per cent swing to dislodge them. If Dr Mawhinney thought he was going to lose, then he must have thought Labour is likely to win the general election with a comfortable overall majority.


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