# Barnet (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnet was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Barnet, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

## History and boundaries

The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 set up Boundaries Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election. This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Hertfordshire was allocated an additional seat. As a consequence, the new County Constituency of Barnet was formed from the St Albans constituency, comprising the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural District of Elstree.
For the 1950 general election, the Rural District of Hatfield was also added from St Albans, but from the 1955 general election, this was transferred back out to the Hertford constituency.
In 1965 the Barnet and East Barnet urban districts were transferred to Greater London, becoming part of the London Borough of Barnet, while Elstree Rural District remained part of Hertfordshire. This did not affect parliamentary boundaries for nine years, however.
When seats were next redistributed, with effect from the February 1974 general election, the Greater London parts of the old constituency moved to the new Borough Constituency of Chipping Barnet. The Elstree Rural District was transferred to the new County Constituency of South Hertfordshire.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Election | Member | Party |
| | 1945 | Stephen Taylor | Labour |
| | 1950 | Reginald Maudling | Conservative |
| Feb 1974 | Feb 1974 | constituency abolished | constituency abolished |

## Elections
### Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Stephen Taylor | 17,764 | 45.15 | |
| | Conservative | A.E.J. Clark | 17,082 | 43.42 | |
| | Liberal | Jean Henderson | 4,495 | 11.43 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 682 | 1.73 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,341 | 73.76 | |
| | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) |

### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 32,953 | 53.31 | +9.9 |
| | Labour | Stephen Taylor | 22,419 | 36.27 | −8.8 |
| | Liberal | William Herbert Jones | 6,441 | 10.42 | −1.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,534 | 17.04 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 61,813 | 87.45 | |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +9.4 | |
General election 1951: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 35,527 | 56.97 |
| | Labour Co-op | Cyril Rawlett Fenton | 22,375 | 35.88 |
| | Liberal | William Herbert Jones | 4,463 | 7.22 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 13,152 | 21.09 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 62,365 | 85.89 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election 1955: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 30,299 | 60.76 |
| | Labour | Sydney Hyam | 19,570 | 39.24 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,729 | 21.52 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 49,869 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election 1959: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 33,136 | 62.67 |
| | Labour | Reginald M Prideaux | 19,737 | 37.33 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 13,399 | 25.34 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 52,873 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 25,537 | 48.43 | |
| | Labour | David H. P. Levy | 17,024 | 32.28 | |
| | Liberal | Hugh Russell Tinker | 10,172 | 19.29 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,513 | 16.15 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 52,733 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1966: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 24,833 | 47.1 | −1.3 |
| | Labour | Geoffrey Hickman | 19,347 | 36.7 | +4.4 |
| | Liberal | Hugh Russell Tinker | 8,539 | 16.2 | −3.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,486 | 10.4 | −5.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 52,719 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Barnet :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Reginald Maudling | 26,845 | 52.29 |
| | Labour | Joan E. M. Baker | 18,166 | 35.38 |
| | Liberal | John D. O. Henchley | 6,329 | 12.33 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,679 | 16.91 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 51,340 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

## References and sources
### References

* ↑ Gay, Oonagh (28 July 2010). "The Rules for the Redistribution of Seats- history and reform". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
* 1 2 S., Craig, Fred W. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
* ↑ The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (S.I. 1970 No. 1674)
* ↑ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.

### Sources

* Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
* Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
Parliament of the United Kingdom :
| Preceded byWirral | Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer 1962–1964 | Succeeded byCardiff South East |