Regent's Park and Kensington North 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 ...

in Central and West London 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 ...

. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system of election from 1997 to 2010.

History

The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former seats of Westminster North and

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. It was abolished at the 2010 general election. With its stark contrasts between prosperity and deprivation, the constituency should have been a highly competitive marginal between the Conservative Party and Labour Party in an even year, although for the three general elections of its existence it was won firmly by Labour. Before its creation it was considered a constituency likely to produce low swings which would be won on differential turnout, similar to its predecessor seats. However, in the political climate of the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

dominated, this proved not to be the case.

Boundaries

The constituency covered the areas of

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

, the Harrow Road,

Westbourne Green Westbourne Green is an area of Westbourne, London, the centre of the former hamlet of Westbourne, at the north-western corner of the City of Westminster. It is named for its location west of a bourne (small stream). Traditionally a rural area, s ...

, Maida Hill,

Little Venice Little Venice is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm, Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction, also k ...

, parts of Queen's Park, parts of

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove ( ) is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

and

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

, as well as North Kensington. The electoral wards of the constituency were: *From the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

: Avondale; Colville; Golborne; Kelfield; St Charles. Following boundary changes for local elections in 2002, Avondale and Kelfield wards were combined to create Notting Barns. *From the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

: Church Street; Hamilton Terrace; Harrow Road;

; Lords;

; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; Westbourne. In 2002, a

Local Government Boundary Commission for England The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is a parliamentary body established by statute to conduct boundary, electoral and structural reviews of local government areas in England. The LGBCE is independent of government and po ...

review abolished the Hamilton Terrace and Lords wards, with the areas absorbed by Regent's Park and the new ward of Abbey Road. For the 2005 general election, the electoral wards used in this constituency were Bayswater (part), Bryanston and Dorset Square (part), Colville, Church Street, Golborne, Harrow Road, Little Venice, Maida Vale, Norland (part), Notting Barns, Queen's Park, Regent's Park, St Charles and Westbourne. Despite the name, the seat did not include the area in the Regent's Park ward of the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

Abolition

The Boundary Commission proposed that the City of Westminster, together with the sparsely populated

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, receive two seats in its own right from the 2010 general election. As a result, Regent's Park and Kensington North was abolished, with most of the Westminster section going into a reformed Westminster North seat and the Kensington and Chelsea section going into a reformed

seat, Chelsea being transferred to the new Chelsea and Fulham seat. The remainder of Westminster (chiefly the part taken from Bryanston and Dorset Square) was combined with the City of London in the Cities of London and Westminster seat. The part of Bayswater ward used in the latter, together with Lancaster Gate, were moved into Westminster North. These changes were implemented in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

References

External links

Regent's Park and Kensington North Parliamentary Constituency borough information
by the Government Office for London * Robert Waller, Byron Criddle
The Almanac of British Politics
'
Labour Party in Westminster
Regent's Park and Kensington North

(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK'' {{coord, 51.527, -0.187, type:city_region:GB-WSM, display=title Politics of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2010 Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic)