History
For the detailed history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1997, please see Southwark & Bermondsey.
Southwark North & Bermondsey is unusual for an Inner London constituency in that it has been represented by a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for over twenty-five years. Many commentators feel that this unusual state of affairs is entirely down to the circumstances of the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. Prior to this, the seat had a long history of representation by Labour MPs, but in the early 1980s the local Labour Party was dominated by the far left. The sitting MP Bob Mellish was directly opposed to their approach and accepted an invitation to sit on the board directing the regeneration of London Docklands.
Bermondsey Constituency Labour Party selected its secretary Peter Tatchell. A magazine article he had written about direct action was used by a Social Democrat MP to embarrass Labour Party leader Michael Foot who impetuously denounced Tatchell and stated that he would not be endorsed, but the party was forced to accept him when Mellish resigned from the House of Commons, triggering a by-election widely regarded as one of the dirtiest in history. Tatchell came in for immense local and national vilification and in a shock result the Liberal candidate Simon Hughes established that his party had the best chance of the other candidates, and monopolised the anti-Tatchell vote.
Hughes has continued to win the seat, at times being the only Liberal Democrat MP in London. The Labour Party have a strong desire to regain the constituency, which has often been predicted to change hands on a uniform swing occurring in elections. However Hughes has repeatedly defied the national trend and retained the seat. On one memorable occasion during the results of the 1997 general election he was told on air by Jonathan Dimbleby that Labour had taken the seat, only for the result to give Hughes a good majority.
In local elections, the London Borough of Southwark was run by the Liberal Democrats until 2010, with Conservative support as the Liberals did not have a majority. Labour won majority control of the council in the May 2010 elections. Following Boundary Commission changes to both sides of the Thames, it altered slightly in shape, but changed its name to Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Read more about this topic: North Southwark And Bermondsey (UK Parliament Constituency)
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