Eltham ( ) was a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

created in 1983 and represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

from 1997 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Clive Efford of the Labour Party. The seat broadly covered the southern half of the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London, England. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolita ...

. Under the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

, the seat was subject to boundary changes which incorporated the Borough of Bromley communities of

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

and

Mottingham Mottingham is a district of south-east London, England, which straddles the border of the London Borough of Bromley, the London Borough of Lewisham and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is located southwest of Eltham, . It was historically wi ...

. As a consequence, it was replaced by Eltham and Chislehurst, first contested at the 2024 general election.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Avery Hill, Coldharbour, Deansfield, Eltham Park, Herbert, Middle Park, New Eltham, Nightingale, Palace, Sherard, Sutcliffe, Tarn, and Well Hall. 1997–2010: As above less Nightingale, plus Plumstead Common, Shrewsbury, and Slade. 2010–2024: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Coldharbour and New Eltham, Eltham North, Eltham South, Eltham West, Kidbrooke with Hornfair, Middle Park and Sutcliffe, and Shooters Hill. The constituency was in the

in south-east London. Before 1983, a constituency with similar boundaries was called Woolwich West. The seat was bordered by the constituencies of: * Bromley and Chislehurst * Erith and Thamesmead * Greenwich and Woolwich *

Lewisham East Lewisham East could refer to: *Lewisham East (UK Parliament constituency) Lewisham East is a parliamentary constituency in South London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the by-election on 14 June 2018 by Janet Dab ...

* Old Bexley and Sidcup

Constituency profile

The constituency is centred on Eltham which has a typical High Street shopping area, surrounded by 20th century suburbs such as Mottingham and New Eltham. There are two railway lines in the seat and many residents commute to Central London. Residents' health and wealth are around average for the UK. Most central and southern wards have tended in local elections since 1997 to elect Conservative councillors whereas the other wards are inclined to Labour such as West Eltham. The former areas have more owner-occupied houses and are more middle-class. Labour has fared well in the same period in the northern areas of the constituency towards Greenwich, and in areas such as Shooters Hill and Well Hall with the exception of the conservation area parts of Blackheath adding to one ward.

History

;Summary of results The 2015 result gave the seat the 28th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. The seat was held by high-profile Tory Peter Bottomley from its inception in 1983. Bottomley had been the MP for abolished Woolwich West before 1983. Labour's Clive Efford gained the seat in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, the first Eltham election in which Bottomley did not stand. Bottomley was standing instead for Worthing West, where he served as MP until

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. After a further absolute majority in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, Efford's majority decreased in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

; he resisted some national swing against the party in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

to hold the seat. ;Opposition since 1997

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

candidates won more than 5% of the vote in 2015 therefore kept their

deposits A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, current accounts or any of several other types of accounts explained below. ...

. Conservative Drury fell 6.2% short of winning the seat in 2015; in 2017, however, Efford more than doubled his margin to 6,296, Labour's largest majority in the seat since 1997. ;First use of open primaries in London In 2006, the Eltham Conservative Association became the first in London to select a

prospective parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of ...

by means of an open primary election, where any voter on the

electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, voters list, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is ...

was entitled to attend and vote. David Gold (PPC Brighton Pavilion 2001) defeated

Jackie Doyle-Price Dame Jacqueline Doyle-Price (born 5 August 1969) is a British former Conservative Party politician and former civil servant who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock from 2010 to 2024. She was first elected as MP in the 2010 general el ...

(PPC Sheffield Hillsborough 2005) and

Eric Ollerenshaw Eric Ollerenshaw OBE (born 26 March 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Fleetwood from 2010 to 2015. He was born and grew up in Lancashire and was educated at Hyde County ...

(former London Assembly member), by winning more than 50% of the ballot in the first round at a meeting chaired by

Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo ( ; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Jou ...

on 31 July 2006 at the Bob Hope Theatre. Approximately 140 people attended the open primary."David Gold selected for Eltham"
Conservative Home (blog) Ironically while Gold was defeated in Eltham at the 2010 General Election, both Doyle-Price and Ollerenshaw won seats elsewhere.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

External links

Eltham Labour PartyEltham , Greenwich Conservatives

(Election results from 1922 onwards)

(Election results from 1955 onwards)

(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 51.456, 0.062, type:city_region:GB-GRE, display=title Politics of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2024 Eltham