# Surbiton (UK Parliament constituency)

Surbiton was a borough constituency created for the 1955 general election and abolished for the 1997 general election, in Surrey until 1965 and thereafter in outer south-west London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.

## History

This was in the safe/marginal seat spectrum irrefutably a safe Conservative seat during its 32-year lifetime. The party positioned in second position was also unchanged until it changed once in the course of the seat's history. The election when this change took place was the 1983 United Kingdom general election. The narrowest majority was the General Election 1966 at 15.7%.

## Boundaries

1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Surbiton.
1974–1983: The London Borough of Kingston upon Thames wards of Berrylands, Chessington, Hook and Southborough, St Mark's and Seething Wells, Surbiton Hill, Tolworth East, Tolworth South, and Tolworth West.
1983–1997: The London Borough of Kingston upon Thames wards of Berrylands, Chessington North, Chessington South, Hook, St Mark's, Surbiton Hill, Tolworth East, Tolworth South, and Tolworth West.
The constituency was made up of the eastern part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London, centred on the area of Surbiton. In 1997, it was absorbed into the new and larger Kingston and Surbiton constituency after the Boundary Commission for England recommended that a seat be lost in the twinned boroughs of Kingston and Richmond.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Member | Party |
| 1955 | Sir Nigel Fisher | Conservative |
| 1983 | Richard Tracey | Conservative |
| 1997 | constituency abolished: see Kingston and Surbiton | constituency abolished: see Kingston and Surbiton |

## Elections
### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1955: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 22,863 | 64.9 | |
| | Labour | S Gordon Richards | 12,380 | 35.1 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,483 | 29.8 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,243 | 79.6 | |
| | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) |
General election 1959: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 24,058 | 67.4 | +2.5 |
| | Labour | Arthur Imisson | 11,633 | 32.6 | −2.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 12,425 | 34.8 | +5.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,691 | 79.0 | −0.6 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 20,499 | 60.6 | −6.8 |
| | Labour | D Eric Heather | 13,337 | 39.4 | +6.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,162 | 21.2 | −13.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,836 | 75.4 | −3.6 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1966: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 19,989 | 57.9 | −2.7 |
| | Labour | D Eric Heather | 14,561 | 42.1 | +2.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,428 | 15.8 | −5.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,550 | 77.0 | +1.6 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 17,359 | 51.7 | −6.2 |
| | Labour | Rusi D Kerr-Walter | 10,469 | 31.2 | −10.9 |
| | Liberal | Christopher F Green | 4,027 | 12.0 | New |
| | Independent Powell Conservative | Edgar Scruby | 1,706 | 5.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,890 | 20.5 | +4.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,561 | 70.3 | −6.7 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election February 1974: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 17,176 | 45.60 |
| | Liberal | D Brooke | 10,676 | 28.34 |
| | Labour | Andrew MacKinlay | 9,813 | 26.05 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,500 | 17.26 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 37,665 | 82.26 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election October 1974: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 15,330 | 45.7 | +0.1 |
| | Labour | Andrew MacKinlay | 9,309 | 27.7 | +1.7 |
| | Liberal | D Brooke | 8,931 | 26.6 | −1.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,021 | 18.0 | +0.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,570 | 72.9 | −9.4 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1979: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Nigel Fisher | 20,063 | 56.7 | +11.0 |
| | Labour | Colin Moore | 9,261 | 26.1 | −1.6 |
| | Liberal | Christine Tilley | 6,093 | 17.2 | −9.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,802 | 30.5 | +12.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,417 | 75.5 | +2.6 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Richard Tracey | 18,245 | 54.5 |
| | SDP | Christopher Nowakowski | 9,496 | 28.4 |
| | Labour | Nigel Waskett | 5,173 | 15.5 |
| | Ecology | Jim Macellan | 551 | 1.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,749 | 26.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,395 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election 1987: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Tracey | 19,861 | 55.9 | +1.4 |
| | SDP | David Burke | 10,120 | 28.5 | +0.1 |
| | Labour | Allister McGowan | 5,111 | 14.4 | −1.1 |
| | Green | Jean Vidler | 465 | 1.3 | −0.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,741 | 27.4 | +1.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,557 | 78.2 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Surbiton :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Tracey | 19,033 | 54.4 | −1.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Barbara Janke | 9,394 | 26.9 | −1.6 |
| | Labour | Robin T. Hutchinson | 6,384 | 18.3 | +3.9 |
| | Natural Law | W Parker | 161 | 0.5 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,639 | 27.5 | +0.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,972 | 82.4 | +4.2 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +0.1 | |