Election 97

Richmond Park

Current MP Jeremy Hanley
Conservative 97 22,442
Labour 97 7,172
LibDem 97 25,393
Nationalist 97 0
Other 97 379
Elected party
Richmond Park

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Richmond and Barnes
Conservative 92 30,609
Labour 92 5,211
LibDem 92 22,225
Nationalist 92 0
Other 92 1,008
Elected party Conservative

For several elections the affluent outer south-west London seat of Richmond and Barnes has seen some of the tightest Conservative-Liberal Democrat marginals in the country. In 1983 the new MP Jeremy Hanley won by just 74 votes. He has since gradually built up his majority to a relatively princely 3,869 in 1992. Still though, the flood of orange posters for his Lib Dem opponent, local GP Jenny Tonge, and the Liberal Democrats' continued dominance of Richmond upon Thames Borough council, meant that he could not regard himself as safe.

However, help was at hand. Since 1992, the Boundary Commission have added to Richmond and Barnes the wealthy northern wards of the abolished Kingston upon Thames constituency, held by Norman Lamont. These will increase Hanley's majority to around 8,000. They have also renamed the seat Richmond Park, after the huge expanse of green land around which it curls. The Liberal Democrats can just about give up, and concentrate their attention on the neighbouring Twickenham constituency.


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