Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 52°00′00″N 0°59′17″W / 52.000°N 0.988°W / 52.000; -0.988

Buckingham
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Buckingham in Buckinghamshire.
Location of Buckinghamshire within England.
County	Buckinghamshire
Population	97,184 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	75,837 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlements	Princes Risborough, Buckingham, Winslow
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	John Bercow (Speaker)
Number of members	One
1542–1885
Number of members	Two until 1868, then one until 1885
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Buckingham /ˈbʌkɪŋm̩/ is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by John Bercow, who later became Speaker of the House of Commons.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Sessional Divisions of Ashendon, Buckingham, Newport, and Stony Stratford, and part of the Sessional Division of Winslow.

1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Linslade, and Newport Pagnell, the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Stratford and Wolverton, Wing, and Winslow, and parts of the Rural Districts of Aylesbury and Long Crendon.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Linslade, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow.

1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow.

1983-1992: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow, and the Borough of Milton Keynes wards of Stony Stratford, Wolverton, and Wolverton Stacey Bushes.

1992-1997: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow.

1997-2010: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Aston Clinton, Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Eddlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Hogshaw, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Oakley, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Stone, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow.

2010-present: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Bierton, Brill, Buckingham North, Buckingham South, Cheddington, Edlesborough, Great Brickhill, Great Horwood, Grendon Underwood, Haddenham, Long Crendon, Luffield Abbey, Marsh Gibbon, Newton Longville, Pitstone, Quainton, Steeple Claydon, Stewkley, Tingewick, Waddesdon, Weedon, Wing, Wingrave, and Winslow, and the District of Wycombe wards of Icknield and The Risboroughs.

The constituency takes up a large part of central Buckinghamshire, covering much of the Aylesbury Vale district including the town of Buckingham. To the north, the remaining part of ceremonial Buckinghamshire forms two Borough of Milton Keynes constituencies (Milton Keynes South and Milton Keynes North).

History

The seat has sent MPs since 1542 — its standard double representation was halved in 1868. In the twentieth century, the constituency was held by the Conservative Party for most of the time. However, a Labour Party MP served Buckingham from 1945 until 1951, Aidan Crawley and from 1964 until 1970 its Labour MP was the controversial publisher Robert Maxwell.

Before 1983, the new town of Milton Keynes, including its older parts such as Bletchley and Fenny Stratford^{[n 3]} was in the Buckingham constituency, until its population had expanded substantially enough to merit a seat of its own. The sitting Buckingham MP William Benyon moved to the new Milton Keynes constituency. Benyon's successor in Buckingham was Conservative George Walden. Walden retired in 1997, and John Bercow has held the seat since then. In 2009, Bercow was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons following the resignation of Michael Martin and there is an inconsistently followed convention not to oppose a professed speaker candidate at election which is mostly kept by the major parties — nonetheless UKIP's leader stood against Bercow in the 2010 election but finished third behind the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy founder who previously founded the Pro-Euro Conservative Party.^[3]

At the 2005 general election, this constituency had the Conservatives' highest numerical majority, although a higher share of the vote was achieved in Kensington and Chelsea in London and Richmond in North Yorkshire, the constituency of William Hague.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1542)

MPs to 1660

Year	First member	Second member
1529	John Hasilwood	Edward Lloyd[4]
1536	Thomas Pope	George Gifford[4]
1539	?
1542	?
1545	John Josselyn	Ralph Gifford[4]
1547	Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon	John Josselyn[4]
1553 (Mar)	Edward Chamberlain	Francis Verney[4]
1553 (Oct)	William Walter	Edward Gifford[4]
1554 (Apr)	Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon	George Fettiplace[4]
1554 (Nov)	Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon	George Fettiplace[4]
1555	Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon	Hugh Mynors[4]
1558	Bernard Brocas	John Higford[4]
1558/9	Robert Drury	William Riseley[5]
1562/3	Robert Newdigate I	Paul Wentworth[5]
1571	Robert Newdigate I	Thomas Wenman[5]
1572	Henry Carey	Lawrence Holinshed[5]
1584	Michael Harcourt	John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon[5]
1586	John Fortescue	Christopher Edmonds[5]
1588/9	John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon	Francis Fortescue[5]
1593	John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon	Francis Fortescue[5]
1597 (Oct)	Sir Edward [or Edmund] Carey	Francis Fortescue[5]
1601 (Oct)	Christopher Hatton	Robert Newdigate II[5]
1604	Sir Thomas Denton	Sir Edward Tyrrell died 1606 repl. by Sir Francis Goodwin
1614	Sir Thomas Denton	Sir Ralph Winwood
1621-22	Sir Thomas Denton	Richard Oliver
1624	Sir Edmund Verney	Richard Oliver
1625	Sir Alexander Denton	Richard Oliver
1626	Sir Alexander Denton	Sir John Smythe
1628-1629	Sir Thomas Denton	Richard Oliver

Year	First member	Second member
Apr 1640	Sir Peter Temple	Sir Alexander Denton
Nov 1640	Sir Peter Temple	Sir Alexander Denton disabled 1644
1645	Sir Peter Temple	John Dormer
1653	Buckingham not Represented in Barebones Parliament
1654	Francis Ingoldsby	(one seat only)
1656	Francis Ingoldsby	(one seat only)
1659	Francis Ingoldsby	Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet

MPs 1660–1868

Year			First member[6][7]	First party	Second member[6][7]	Second party
		1660	John Dormer		Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet
		1661	Sir William Smyth, 1st Baronet
		February 1679	Viscount Latimer		Sir Peter Tyrrell, 1st Baronet
		August 1679			Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Bt.
		1681	Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Bt.
		1690	Alexander Denton
		1697			Sir Richard Temple, 4th Bt.	Whig
		1698	Edmund Denton
		1702			Roger Price
		May 1705			Sir Richard Temple, 4th Bt.	Whig
		December 1705			Browne Willis
		1708	Sir Richard Temple, 4th Bt.	Whig	Alexander Denton
		1710			Thomas Chapman
		1713	John Radcliffe
		1715	Alexander Denton		Abraham Stanyan
		1718			Edmund Halsey
		March 1722			Richard Grenville
		October 1722	William Heathcote
		March 1727			John Fane
		August 1727	Thomas Lewis
		1728	George Chamberlayne
		1734			Richard Grenville
		1741			George Grenville	Whig
		1747	Richard Grenville
		1753	Temple West
		1754	James Grenville
		1768	Henry Grenville
		1770			James Grenville
		1774	Richard Grenville
		1780	Richard Aldworth-Neville
		1782	William Grenville	Whig
		1784	Charles Edmund Nugent
		June 1790	George Nugent
		December 1790			The Lord Bridport
		1796			Thomas Grenville
		1802	Lord Proby
		1805	Lord Proby
		August 1806	Earl Percy	Tory
		November 1806	Sir William Young, 2nd Bt.
		March 1807	Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Bt.
		May 1807	Hon. Richard Griffin
		1810			Lord George Grenville	Liberal
		1812	Viscount Ebrington	Whig	William Henry Fremantle
		1817	James Hamilton Stanhope
		1818	Sir George Nugent, 1st Bt.
		1827			Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Bt.	Conservative
		1832	Sir Harry Verney	Liberal
		1841	Sir John Chetwode, 4th Bt.
		January 1846	John Hall
		February 1846			Marquess of Chandos	Conservative
		1857			Sir Harry Verney	Liberal
		1859	John Gellibrand Hubbard	Conservative
1868			Representation reduced to one member

MPs since 1868

Election		Member[7][8]	Party
	1868	Sir Harry Verney	Liberal
	1874	Egerton Hubbard	Conservative
	1880	Sir Harry Verney	Liberal
	1885	Edmund Hope Verney	Liberal
	1886	Egerton Hubbard	Conservative
	1889 by-election	Edmund Hope Verney (expelled)	Liberal
	1891 by-election	Herbert Samuel Leon	Liberal
	1895	William Walter Carlile	Conservative
	1906	Frederick William Verney	Liberal
	1910	Sir Harry Verney	Liberal
	1918	George Wentworth Bowyer	Conservative
	1937 by-election	John Percival Whiteley	Conservative
	1943 by-election	Lionel Berry	Conservative
	1945	Aidan Crawley (later served as a Conservative MP)	Labour
	1951	Frank Markham (formerly served as a Labour MP)	Conservative
	1964	Robert Maxwell	Labour
	1970	William Benyon	Conservative
	1983	George Walden	Conservative
	1997	John Bercow	Conservative
	2009		Speaker

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2015: Buckingham^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Speaker	John Bercow 1	34,617	64.5	+17.2
	UKIP	Dave Fowler	11,675	21.7	+4.4
	Green	Alan Francis	7,400	13.7	N/A
Majority			22,942	42.7	16.8
Turnout			53,692	69.3	4.8
	Speaker hold		Swing	+6.4

¹ In both 2015 and 2010, John Bercow stood as 'The Speaker seeking re-election'.

General election 2010: Buckingham^[11][12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Speaker	John Bercow	22,860	47.3	N/A
	Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy	John Stevens	10,331	21.4	N/A
	UKIP	Nigel Farage	8,410	17.4	+14.4
	Independent	Patrick Phillips	2,394	5.0	N/A
	Independent	Debbie Martin	1,270	2.6	N/A
	BNP	Lynne Mozar	980	2.0	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Colin Dale	856	1.8	N/A
	Independent	Geoff Howard	435	0.9	N/A
	Christian	David Hews	369	0.8	N/A
	Independent	Anthony Watts	332	0.7	N/A
	Cut The Deficit	Simon Strutt	107	0.2	N/A
Majority			12,529	25.9
Turnout			48,344	64.5	−3.8
	Speaker hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Buckingham^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Bercow	27,748	57.4	+3.7
	Labour	David Greene	9,619	19.9	−4.3
	Liberal Democrat	Luke Croydon	9,508	19.7	−0.3
	UKIP	David Williams	1,432	3.0	+0.9
Majority			18,129	37.5
Turnout			48,307	68.7	−0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.0

General election 2001: Buckingham^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Bercow	24,296	53.7	+3.9
	Labour	Mark Seddon	10,971	24.2	−0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Isobel Wilson	9,037	20.0	−4.7
	UKIP	Christopher Silcock	968	2.1	N/A
Majority			13,325	29.5
Turnout			45,272	69.4	−9.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Buckingham^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Bercow	24,594	49.8	−12.7
	Labour	Robert C. Lehmann	12,208	24.7	+8.5
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Stuart	12,175	24.6	+4.0
	Natural Law	Geoffrey Clements	421	0.9	+0.2
Majority			12,386	25.1
Turnout			49,398	78.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−10.6

General election 1992: Buckingham^{[17] [18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Walden	29,496	62.5	+3.8
	Liberal Democrat	Tudor Jones	9,705	20.6	−4.3
	Labour	Keith M. White	7,662	16.2	−0.3
	Natural Law	Lawrence R. Sheaff	353	0.7	+0.7
Majority			19,791	41.9	+8.1
Turnout			47,216	84.2	+5.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.1

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Buckingham^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Walden	32,162	58.6	+1.7
	Liberal	Charles Martin Burke	13,636	24.9	−3.2
	Labour	Martyn Groucutt	9,053	16.5	+1.5
Majority			18,526	33.8
Turnout			54,851	78.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.5

General election 1983: Buckingham^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Walden	27,522	56.9
	Liberal	R. Ryder	13,584	28.1
	Labour	Martyn Groucutt	7,272	15.0
Majority			13,938	28.8
Turnout			48,378	77.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Richard Benyon	41,719	51.3	+9.1
	Labour	J.S. Fryer	27,752	34.1	−3.5
	Liberal	S.B. Crooks	11,045	13.6	−6.6
	National Front	M. Smith	803	1.0	N/A
Majority			13,967	17.2
Turnout			81,319	78.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.3

General election October 1974: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Richard Benyon	26,597	42.2	+1.5
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	23,679	37.6	+1.6
	Liberal	S.B. Crooks	12,707	20.2	−3.1
Majority			2,918	4.6
Turnout			62,983	79.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.1

General election February 1974: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Richard Benyon	27,179	40.7	−6.8
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	24,056	36.0	−7.2
	Liberal	C. Crooks	15,519	23.3	+14.0
Majority			3,123	4.7
Turnout			66,754	85.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.2

General election 1970: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Richard Benyon	28,088	47.5	+4.3
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	25,567	43.2	−4.3
	Liberal	John M Cornwall	5,475	9.3	−0.1
Majority			2,521	4.3
Turnout			59,130	81.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+4.3

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	24,854	47.5	+1.6
	Conservative	Mary Elaine Kellett	22,600	43.2	+0.2
	Liberal	John M Cornwall	4,914	9.4	−1.7
Majority			2,254	4.3
Turnout			52,368	85.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

General election 1964: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	23,085	45.9	+2.6
	Conservative	Mary Elaine Kellett	21,604	43.0	−4.0
	Liberal	Jack Raphael Wallis	5,578	11.1	+1.4
Majority			1,181	3.0
Turnout			50,267	86.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.3

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Sydney Frank Markham	22,304	47.0	−4.3
	Labour	Ian Robert Maxwell	20,558	43.3	−5.4
	Liberal	Evan Laurence Frederick Richards	4,577	9.7	N/A
Majority			1,746	3.7
Turnout			47,439	86.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.6

General election 1955: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Sydney Frank Markham	23,250	51.3	+1.2
	Labour	David Gordon Evans	22,110	48.7	−1.2
Majority			1,140	2.5
Turnout			45,360	85.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2

General election 1951: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sydney Frank Markham	22,688	50.1	+6.7
	Labour	Aidan Merivale Crawley	22,634	49.9	+2.8
Majority			54	0.1
Turnout			45,322	86.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+2.0

General election 1950: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Aidan Merivale Crawley	20,782	47.1	−7.6
	Conservative	Sydney Frank Markham	19,128	43.4	−1.9
	Liberal	John Denis Gilbert Kellock	4,196	9.5	N/A
Majority			1,654	3.8
Turnout			44,106	86.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.9

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Aidan Merivale Crawley	22,302	54.7	+12.7
	Conservative	Geoffrey Lionel Berry	18,457	45.3	−12.7
Majority			3,845	9.4
Turnout			40,759	71.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.7

Buckingham by-election, 1943^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Geoffrey Lionel Berry	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1930s

Buckingham by-election, 1937

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Percival Whiteley	17,919	52.6	−5.4
	Labour	James Viner Delahaye	12,820	37.6	−4.4
	Liberal	E.J. Boyce	3,348	9.8	N/A
Majority			5,099	15.0	−1.0
Turnout			34,087	71.4	−3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Wentworth Bowyer	20,616	58.0
	Labour	Joseph Alfred Sparks	14,928	42.0
Majority			5,688	16.0
Turnout			35,544	75.13
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Buckingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Wentworth Bowyer	23,783	66.96
	Labour	James Lievsley George	11,736	33.04
Majority			12,047	33.92
Turnout				77.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Buckingham ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	George Edward Wentworth Bowyer	16,375	45.8	-6.0
	Labour	James Lievsley George	11,718	32.7	+2.1
	Liberal	Norman Easedale Crump	7,713	21.5	+3.9
Majority			4,657	13.1	-8.1
Turnout				79.6	+1.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	-4.0

General election 1923: Buckingham ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	George Edward Wentworth Bowyer	13,351	53.0	+3.6
	Labour	Edward J. Pay	11,824	47.0	+20.7
Majority			1,527	6.0	-17.1
Turnout				68.4	-
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.5

Elections in the 1910s

General election December 1910^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Harry Calvert Williams Verney	6,029	51.4	+0.9
	Liberal Unionist	Francis Tyringham Higgins Bernard	5,702	48.6	-0.9
Majority			327	2.8	+1.8
Turnout				89.7	-2.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

General election January 1910^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Frederick William Verney	6,055	50.5	-6.7
	Conservative	Hon. Thomas Francis Fremantle	5,944	49.5	+6.7
Majority			111	1.0	-13.4
Turnout				91.7	+3.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.7

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1906 ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Frederick William Verney	6,253	57.2	+9.3
	Conservative	Hon. Thomas Francis Fremantle	4,673	42.8	-9.3
Majority			1,580	14.4	18.6
Turnout				88.6	+4.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 1890s

Buckingham by-election, 1891 ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Herbert Samuel Leon	5,018
	Conservative	Evelyn Hubbard	4,682
Majority
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1880s

Buckingham by-election, 1889 ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edmund Hope Verney	4,856
	Conservative	Evelyn Hubbard	4,647
Majority
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Buckinghamshire

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• 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. 1945. 
• The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950. 
• The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955. 

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Buckingham — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by vacant (last was Sussex in 1754)	Constituency represented by the Prime Minister 1763–1765	Succeeded by vacant (next was Bath in 1766)
Preceded by Glasgow North East	Constituency represented by the Speaker 2009–present	Incumbent