South West Norfolk (UK Parliament Constituency) - History

History

South West Norfolk has been held solidly by Conservatives since 1964 but for twenty years before then, it had been ultra-marginal. Labour first held it from 1929–31, and Sidney Dye won it for Labour in 1945 with a tiny majority of 53, holding it at the 1950 election by 260. He lost it to Denys Bullard in 1951 by 442 votes and won it back in 1955 with a majority of 193. Dye died at the end of 1958, and in the by-election Albert Hilton retained the seat for Labour by a margin of 1,354 votes. In the 1959 general election that soon followed, his majority was cut to 78.

Although Labour had held the seat during two Conservative national election victories, the Conservatives took the seat in the 1964 election, which Labour won nationally. Paul Hawkins and Gillian Shephard held the seat. Shephard's majority was slashed in the 1997 general election before recovering in the 2001 general election.

Shephard decided not to run for the 2005 general election. The Conservative Party selected Christopher Fraser, former MP for Mid Dorset and Poole North and he was elected with a majority of over 10,000.

On 28 May 2009, Fraser announced that he would be standing down at the 2010 General Election citing family reasons. This was after his expenses claims were highlighted in the Daily Telegraph; according to the newspaper, Fraser claimed £1,800 in public money for buying 215 trees and marking out the boundary of his second home in the constituency.