History
The constituency was created in 1997, when the number of seats covering the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames was reduced from four to three. It replaced the former Surbiton constituency completely and also covers the south of the former Kingston constituency. Being largely middle-class, suburban areas, both Kingston and Surbiton were traditionally strongholds for the Conservatives, with Norbiton being the sole Labour voting ward.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont represented Kingston from a by-election in 1972 until the 1997 general election, when he was not selected as the Conservative candidate for either of its replacements. Instead, the incumbent Surbiton MP Richard Tracey was selected, while Lamont ended up unsuccessfully contesting Harrogate and Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. In the event, Tracey was defeated by the Liberal Democrat candidate Edward Davey, by the very narrow margin of just 56 votes.
Davey has held on to the seat since then, with an increased majority of over 15,000 at the 2001 election, and a smaller one (just under 9,000) at the 2005 election, and 7,560 in the 2010 election.
Read more about this topic: Kingston And Surbiton (UK Parliament Constituency)
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