Coordinates: 50°34′00″N 2°27′15″W / 50.5666°N 2.4541°W / 50.5666; -2.4541

South Dorset County constituency
South Dorset shown within Dorset, and Dorset shown within England
Created:	1885
MP:	Jim Knight
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Dorset
EP constituency:	South West England

South Dorset is a county constituency 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.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Election results 5 See also 6 External links 7 References

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers a similar area to the borough of Weymouth and Portland and the Purbeck district in Dorset. Weymouth is one of the few large towns in Dorset, but Purbeck is largely rural. The constituency includes Bovington army camp.

[edit] History

In the 1997 election, this seat was won by the Conservatives by a margin of only 77 votes, one of the smallest margins in the UK. The constituency went on to be won by Labour from the Conservatives in the 2001 election, but with Labour's smallest majority in England, at 153. In the 2005 election this constituency was one of the few in which Labour significantly increased their majority. Labour may have been helped by the fact that Tony Blair started his official campaign in this seat. A more significant factor perhaps was that Conservative candidate Ed Matts was found to have doctored an image which was part of his campaign material. Matts changed a photo of a protest against the deportation of a South Dorset resident, so that it appeared to be a protest against "uncontrolled immigration". In both elections, the left-wing singer-songwriter Billy Bragg ran an anti-Conservative tactical voting campaign in Dorset constituencies.

[edit] Members of Parliament

• In this section by-elections are indicated by an asterisk after the date.

Election		Member	Party
1885		constituency created
	1885	Henry Parkman Sturgis	Liberal
	1886	Charles Joseph Theophilus Hambro [1]	Conservative
	1891 *	William Ernest Brymer	Conservative
	1906	Thomas Scarisbrick	Liberal
	1910	Angus Valdimar Hambro	Conservative
	1918		Coalition Conservative
	1922	Robert Yerburgh	Conservative
	1929	Viscount Cranborne [2]	Conservative
	1941 *	Viscount Hinchingbrooke [3]	Conservative
	1962 *	Guy Barnett	Labour
	1964	Evelyn King	Conservative
	1979	Viscount Cranborne	Conservative
	1987	Ian Bruce	Conservative
	2001	Jim Knight	Labour

Notes

1. ^ Died 1891
2. ^ Called to the House of Lords, by a writ in acceleration, as Lord Cecil of Essendon in 1941.
3. ^ Succeeded as the 10th Earl of Sandwich

[edit] Election results

Prospective Parliamentary candidates for the next UK general election: South Dorset [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Drax
	Liberal Democrat	Ros Kayes
	Labour	Jim Knight

General Election 2005: South Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Knight	20,231	41.6	−0.4
	Conservative	Ed Matts	18,419	37.9	−3.7
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Oakes	7,647	15.7	+1.3
	UKIP	Hugh Chalker	1,571	3.2	+1.2
	Legalise Cannabis	Vic Hamilton	282	0.6	N/A
	Respect	Berny Parkes	219	0.5	N/A
	Personality and Rational Thinking? Yes! Party	Andrew Kirkwood	107	0.2	N/A
	Wessex Regionalist	Colin Bex	83	0.2	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David Marchesi	25	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,812	3.7
Turnout			48,584	68.7	+3.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

General Election 2001: South Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Knight	19,027	42.0	+6.0
	Conservative	Ian Bruce	18,874	41.6	+5.5
	Liberal Democrat	Andy Canning	6,531	14.4	-5.8
	UKIP	Laurie Moss	913	2.0	+0.3
Majority			153	0.4
Turnout			45,345	65.5	-8.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

[edit] See also

• Richard Drax
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Dorset

[edit] External links

• Jim Knight MP official site
• BBC News article on the 2001 South Dorset election

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[edit] References