History
Beckenham has never elected anyone other than a Conservative as its MP in modern times. It is a safe Conservative seat because there is a solid core of Conservative voters in the suburban parts of the constituency and the opposition is somewhat divided between Labour and Lib Dem. Unlike neighbouring Orpington constituency, a strong Lib Dem challenge could never succeed by squeezing out Labour votes here because of the presence of so many traditional Labour voters in Penge, which are quite inner-London in character.
The closest the Conservatives have ever come to losing this seat was at a by-election in November 1997, at the height of Tony Blair's 'honeymoon period' as Prime Minister, following the resignation of the previous MP Piers Merchant in a sex scandal. Even then, the former MP for Hastings Jacqui Lait managed to hold on to the seat for the Conservatives by just over 1,000 votes.
Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham was Sir Philip Goodhart, who was soon discovered by Mrs Thatcher to be a 'wet' and consequently his career as a junior minister came to a quick end early in her premiership. Goodhart is best known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee, and for his brother Charles, who was a famous economics professor at LSE and sat for some time on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
Before Sir Philip Goodhart, the former Conservative Chief Whip Patrick Buchan-Hepburn represented Beckenham in Parliament.
Read more about this topic: Beckenham (UK Parliament Constituency)
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