Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)

{{{name}}}
[[{{{type}}} constituency]] for the House of Commons
Current constituency
Created	{{{year}}}
Member of Parliament	None

{{{name}}}
[[{{{type}}} constituency]] for the House of Commons
Current constituency
Created	{{{year}}}
Member of Parliament	None

Finchley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. It was abolished in 1997.

Boundaries

Finchley constituency within the Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1918-45.

Finchley constituency within the parliamentary county of Middlesex, showing boundaries used from 1945-50.

In 1918 the constituency was created as a county division of Middlesex, centred on the town of Finchley, which before 1918 had been located in the Hornsey constituency. The local government areas included in the seat were the Finchley and Friern Barnet Urban Districts. In 1934 the Finchley district became a Municipal Borough.

In 1945 there was an interim redistribution of parliamentary constituencies to split those with more than 100,000 electors, prior to the general redistribution which took effect in 1950. Middlesex was significantly affected by the interim changes. This constituency had a minor revision. In the 1945-1950 Parliament it included the Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, and part of the Friern Barnet Urban District.

In the redistribution of 1950, the seat was re-classified as a borough constituency. The boundaries reverted to those which had existed before 1945, with the constituency comprising the Municipal Borough of Finchley and the Friern Barnet Urban District.

In 1965 the area of the constituency was joined to other districts to form the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London.

In the 1974 changes to parliamentary boundaries, the constituency was redefined as comprising the wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse. The boundaries were left unchanged in the 1983 redistribution.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1918	John Newman	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1923	Thomas Atholl Robertson	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1924	Hon. Sir Edward Cadogan	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1935	John Crowder	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1959	Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher	Conservative	Later Baroness Thatcher; Leader of the Conservative Party 1975-90; Prime Minister 1979-90
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1992	Hartley Booth	Conservative
1997		constituency abolished

Results

General Election 1992: Finchley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hartley Booth	21,039	51.2	−2.7
	Labour	A. C. Marjoram	14,651	35.7	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	H. F. Leighter	4,568	11.1	−2.8
	Green	Ashley Gunstock	564	1.4	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	S. A. Johnson	130	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	J. D. Macrae	129	0.3	N/A
Majority			6,388	15.5	−6.7
Turnout				77.6	+8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Finchley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher	21,603	53.9	+2.8
	Labour	J. R. M. Davies	12,690	31.7	+4.9
	Liberal	D. Howarth	5,580	13.9	−7.3
	Gremloid Party	Lord Buckethead	131	0.3	N/A
	Gold Party	M. J. St Vincent	59	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,913	22.2	−2.0
Turnout				69.4	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Finchley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher	19,616	51.1	−1.4
	Labour	L. G. Spigel	10,302	26.8	−5.9
	Liberal	Margaret Joachim	7,763	20.2	+7.0
	Ecology	S. J. Wilkinson	279	0.7	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	235	0.6	N/A
	Ban Every Licensing Law Society	A. J. Noonan	75	0.2	N/A
	Independent	H. M. Anscomb	42	0.1	N/A
	Law and Order in Gotham City	A. P. Whitehead	37	0.1	N/A
	Anti-Censorship	D. A. Webb	28	0.1	N/A
	Party of Associates with Licensees	B. C. Wareham	27	0.1	N/A
	Belgrano Blood-Hunger	B. C. Wedmore	13	0.0	N/A
Majority			9,314	24.2	+4.4
Turnout				69.0	−2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Finchley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher	20,918	52.5
	Labour	Richard May	13,040	32.7
	Liberal	A. Paterson	5,254	13.2
	National Front	W. Verity	534	1.3
	Independent Democrat	E. Lloyd	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			7,878	19.8
Turnout				71.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)

Successors and Predecessors

Template:Succession box one to two