Bethnal Green and Bow (UK Parliament constituency)

UK constituency infobox alt
Name = Bethnal Green and Bow


Type = Borough
Entity = Greater London
DivisionType = County
Division = Greater London
Year = 1974, 1997
MP = George Galloway
Party = Respect
EP = London

Bethnal Green and Bow is a constituency located in Greater London, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency first existed 1974-1983, and was re-created in 1997.

Boundaries

The seat is centred on the northern part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, taking in much of Bethnal Green, Bow and Stepney. It includes much of the traditional East End, the Tower of London and Brick Lane.

The 1974-1983 constituency comprised the then London Borough of Tower Hamlets wards of Bethnal Green Central, Bethnal Green East, Bethnal Green North, Bethnal Green South, Bethnal Green West, Bow North, Bow South, Bromley, Holy Trinity and Spitalfields.

Between the 1983 and 1997 general elections, the equivalent seat was Bethnal Green and Stepney.

Boundary review

Following the review of parliamentary representation in North London in 2001, the Boundary Commission for England has modified the seat of Bethnal Green and Bow. A name change to "Tower Hamlets North" was rejected. The electoral wards which are used in the re-drawn Bethnal Green and Bow are entirely within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
*Bethnal Green North, Bethnal Green South, Bow East, Bow West, Mile End and Globe Town, St Dunstan’s and Stepney Green, Spitalfields and Banglatown, Weavers, Whitechapel.

The Tower Hamlets wards of Blackwall and Cubitt Town, Bromley-by-Bow, East India and Lansbury, Limehouse, Mile End East, Millwall, St Katherine’s and Wapping and Shadwell have been moved to the new constituency of Poplar and Limehouse.

History

In 1974 the Bethnal Green constituency was abolished. A new seat was created with the strict official name of Tower Hamlets, Bethnal Green and Bow. However the London Borough prefix is not commonly used for seats in the 1974-1983 redistribution.

The 1974-1983 constituency was a safe Labour seat, with the Liberal Party in a distant second place. Ian Mikardo, a well known back bench Labour MP, represented the area in this period.

Between 1983 and 1997, most of the present constituency formed the seat of Bethnal Green and Stepney.

The borough of Tower Hamlets has a reputation for being a bastion of radical politics, with Communists and more recently the Respect MP George Galloway being elected to Parliament as well as providing massive Labour majorities. Before a recent revival, the Conservative Party last won council seats in the area in 1931. The Liberal Party remained the main challengers to Labour in the Bethnal Green area but the loss of Percy Harris as Bethnal Green South West MP and eventually as London County Councillor too (despite a temporary comeback in 1946) put them out of the running in Parliamentary elections until a Liberal revival began in Bow in the late 1970s. Tower Hamlets was the only London Borough to have had seats held by the Communist Party of Great Britain; they lost their last seats in 1971. Between 1945 and 1950, Mile End provided the CPGB with one of its two parliamentary seats, being represented by Phil Pirratin. Two Communists also won seats on the London County council (LCC) in 1947.

Between 1986 and 1994, the Liberal Democrats controlled Tower Hamlets council, but this proved a deeply controversial period, witnessing splits in the local party and much criticism from outside.

The seat also has a large non-white population, estimated at around 58% of the population. The largest group in this number is the Bengali community (36%) [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk] .

In the 1997 general election, there was a swing of 5% to the Conservative Party at a time when the national trend was a landslide swing against them. Bethnal Green and Bow was one of only two constituencies in the country to have any sort of pro-Conservative swing. This unusual result was ascribed to problems over the selection of a Labour Party candidate, following the retirement of Peter Shore. Oona King, who won the selection, was not well known and many in the local area would have preferred a candidate from a Bangladeshi background. However the leading Bangladeshi candidates were identified with the left and were excluded from the selection.

Following British participation in the invasion of Iraq, an action deeply unpopular with the Muslim community in the constituency but nevertheless supported by Oona King, the newly formed Respect coalition gained support. They topped the poll in Tower Hamlets in the 2004 European Parliamentary elections and subsequently won their first local council seat in a by-election. In the May 2005 general election, the seat was narrowly won by former Labour MP George Galloway, one of Respect's leading figures. Respect also won seats in the 2006 local council elections although its performance was not as strong as many observers believed it could have been.

George Galloway has attracted criticism for lack of attendance at Parliament, especially when he appeared in the reality TV programme Big Brother. However, he has countered that he has not missed any crucial votes and that the best way for him to advance the interests of his constituents is by general campaigning. Galloway has always said that he only intended to stay in the seat for one Parliament and has announced that he will be standing for a neighbouring constituency at the next election, with Respect to pick another candidate to defend the seat.

In September 2007, the Respect party selected Abjol Miah as their candidate to replace George Galloway in Bethnal Green and Bow. Miah, a stick fighting champion of Bengali origin is to compete with the Labour candidate Rushanara Ali in the notionally safe Labour seat. Miah has worked in the local area as a radio presenter, drugs worker and martial arts trainer. Previously, Miah ousted Council Leader Michael Keith, along with two other cabinet members.

Rusahanara Ali is an Oxford graduate, and worked with former MP Oona KingFact|date=April 2008 with whom she held a secretarial job during King's term as MP. Ali says she disagreed with her former boss in regards to the Iraq war and that her main aim is to look into local issues affecting people.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Rushanara Ali
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Ajmal Masroor
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Respect - The Unity Coalition
candidate = Abjol Miah
votes =
percentage =
change =

At the 2005 election, as per the Electoral Commission [http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/files/dms/Generalelection2005_candidates_19333-14260__E__N__S__W__.xls] the candidate Ejiro Etefia was coded as an "Independent" candidate because his chosen party label - Alliance for Change Restore People's Freedoms! {"sic"} - did not match a registered political party name.

Election box begin
title=General Election 2005: Bethnal Green and BowElection box candidate with party link
candidate = George Galloway
party = RESPECT The Unity Coalition
votes = 15,801
percentage = 35.9
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Oona King
votes = 14,978
percentage = 34.0
change = -16.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Shahagir Bakth Faruk
votes = 6,244
percentage = 14.2
change = -10.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Syed Nurul Islam Dulu
votes = 4,928
percentage = 11.2
change = -4.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = John Foster
votes = 1,950
percentage = 4.4
change = +0.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Alliance for Change (UK)
candidate = Ejiro Etefia
votes = 68
percentage = 0.2
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Communist League (UK, 1988)
candidate = Celia Pugh
votes = 38
percentage = 0.1
change = Election box majority
votes = 823
percentage = 1.9
change = Election box turnout
votes = 44,007
percentage = 51.2
change = Election box gain with party link
winner = RESPECT The Unity Coalition
loser = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Election box begin
title=General Election 2001: Bethnal Green and BowElection box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Oona King
votes = 19,380
percentage = 50.5
change = +4.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Shahagir Bakth Faruk
votes = 9,323
percentage = 24.3
change = +3.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Janet Ludlow
votes = 5,946
percentage = 15.5
change = +3.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = Anna Bragga
votes = 1,666
percentage = 4.3
change = +2.5Election box candidate with party link
candidate = Michael Davidson
party = British National Party
votes = 1,211
percentage = 3.2
change = -4.3Election box candidate with party link
party = New Britain Party
candidate = Dennis Delderfield
votes = 888
percentage = 2.3
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 10,057
percentage = 26.2
change = Election box turnout
votes = 38,414
percentage = 50.2
change = -10.1Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Oona King
votes = 20,697
percentage = 46.3
change = -9.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Kabir Choudhury
votes = 9,412
percentage = 21.1
change = +3.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Syed Nurul Islam Dulu
votes = 5,361
percentage = 12.0
change = -10.3Election box candidate with party link
party = British National Party
candidate = David King
votes = 3,350
percentage = 7.5
change = +3.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
candidate = Terry Milson
votes = 2,963
percentage = 6.6
change = Election box candidate
party = Real Labour
candidate = Sheref Osman
votes = 1,117
percentage = 2.5
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = Stephen Petter
votes = 812
percentage = 1.8
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Muhammed Abdullah
votes = 557
percentage = 1.2
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Abdul Hamid
votes = 413
percentage = 0.9
change = Election box majority
votes = 11,285
percentage = 25.3
change = Election box turnout
votes = 44,682
percentage = 60.3
change = -5.2

* "Constituency did not exist between 1983 and 1997 - see Bethnal Green and Stepney"

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Ian Mikardo
votes = 14,227
percentage = 49.9
change = -19.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Eric Flounders
votes = 6,673
percentage = 23.4
change = +10.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = R. Page
votes = 5,567
percentage = 19.5
change = +9.0Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = M.G.A. Webster
votes = 1,740
percentage = 6.1
change = -1.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)
candidate = W.C. Colvill
votes = 183
percentage = 0.6
change = +0.6Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Unity (UK)
candidate = R.J. Varnes
votes = 153
percentage = 0.5
change = +0.5Election box majority
votes = 7,554
percentage = 26.5
change = -29.4Election box turnout
votes = 51,436
percentage = 55.5
change = +2.5Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Ian Mikardo
votes = 19,649
percentage = 68.9
change = +3.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Tudor Gates
votes = 3,700
percentage = 13.0
change = -6.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = C.P.Y. Murphy
votes = 2,995
percentage = 10.5
change = -4.2Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = W.E. Castleton
votes = 2,172
percentage = 7.6
change = +7.6Election box majority
votes = 15,949
percentage = 55.9
change = +10.0Election box turnout
votes = 53,753
percentage = 53.0
change = -8.0Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Ian Mikardo
votes = 21,371
percentage = 65.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Tudor Gates
votes = 6,417
percentage = 19.7
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = C. P. Y. Murphy
votes = 4,787
percentage = 14.7
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 14,954
percentage = 45.9
change = "N/A"Election box turnout
votes = 53,427
percentage = 61.0
change = "N/A"Election box gain with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
loser = new seat
swing = "N/A"

External links

* [http://www.election-maps.co.uk UK Constituency Maps]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/results_constituencies/constituencies/047.stm BBC Vote 2001] (Incudes 1997 and 2001 results)
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/47.stm BBC Election 2005] (Includes 2005 candidates)

References

* "Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972", compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
* "British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983", compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)
* "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945-1979", edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)