Ashford (UK Parliament constituency)

Ashford is a parliamentary 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 voting system.

It is a strongly Conservative seat.

Boundaries

Ashford constituency has the same boundaries as Ashford (borough). It comprises the rapidly expanding town of Ashford together with the smaller town of Tenterden and 35 villages.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England made major changes to the existing constituencies as a consequence of population expansion across the county.

The electoral wards used in the modified Ashford constituency are entirely within the borough of Ashford;

• Aylesford Green, Beaver, Biddenden, Bockhanger, Boughton Aluph and Eastwell, Bybrook, Charing, Downs North, Downs West, Godinton, Great Chart with Singleton North, Highfield, Isle of Oxney, Kennington, Little Burton Farm, Norman, North Willesborough, Park Farm North, Park Farm South, Rolvenden and Tenterden West, St Michaels, Singleton South, South Willesborough, Stanhope, Stour, Tenterden North, Tenterden South, Victoria, Washford, Weald Central, Weald East, Weald North, Weald South and Wye

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1885)

Election		Member	Party
	1885	William Pomfret Pomfret	Conservative
	1892	Laurence Hardy	Conservative
	1918	Samuel Strang Steel	Coalition Conservative
	1929	Rev. Roderick Kedward	Liberal
	1931	Michael Knatchbull	Conservative
	1933 by-election	Patrick Spens	Conservative
	1943 by-election	Edward Percy Smith	Conservative
	1950	Bill Deedes	Conservative
	1974	Keith Speed	Conservative
	1997	Damian Green	Conservative

Election results

General Election 2005: Ashford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Damian Green	26,651	51.6	+4.2
	Labour	Valerie Whitaker	13,353	25.8	-6.3
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Took	8,308	16.1	+1.0
	Green	Richard Boden	1,753	3.4	+0.6
	UKIP	Bernard Stroud	1,620	3.1	+0.5
Majority			13,298	25.7
Turnout			51,685	65	2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.2

UK general election, 2001: Ashford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Damian Green	22,739	47.4	+6.0
	Labour	John Adams	15,380	32.1	+0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Kieth Fitchett	7,236	15.1	-4.6
	Green	Richard Boden	1,353	2.8	+1.6
	UKIP	David Waller	1,229	2.6	N/A
Majority			7,359	15.3
Turnout			47,937	62.5	-11.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent

References

• Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
• The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times. 1945. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• The Times House of Commons 1950. The Times. 1950. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• The Times House of Commons 1955. The Times. 1955. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)