# Kensington (UK Parliament constituency)

Kensington is a former constituency in Greater London which first existed between 1974 and 1997 and was recreated in 2010. It was replaced by the Kensington and Bayswater constituency, first contested at the 2024 general election.
At the 2017 general election, Emma Dent Coad gained the seat for Labour from incumbent Conservative Victoria Borwick by the slenderest margin in England, 20 votes, the first time Kensington had been represented by a Labour MP. Dent Coad was defeated by Felicity Buchan for the Conservatives at the 2019 United Kingdom general election by a narrow margin of 150 votes.
Kensington was known as the wealthiest parliamentary constituency in the whole of the United Kingdom.

## Boundaries

The constituency formed for the 2010 election comprised the northern and central parts of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in and around Kensington and aligned similarly with the boundary of the Royal Borough of Kensington prior to its merger with the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea. It had the electoral wards:
* Abingdon, Brompton, Campden, Colville, Courtfield, Earls Court, Golborne, Holland, Norland, Notting Dale, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St Helens
From 1974 to 1983, the constituency comprised the electoral wards:
* Golborne, Holland, Norland, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St. Charles
From 1983 to 1997, the constituency comprised the electoral wards:
* Avondale, Campden, Colville, Golborne, Holland, Kelfield, Norland, Pembridge, Queen's Gate, and St. Charles

## History
### First creation

The first incarnation of a Kensington constituency in Westminster was for the February 1974 general election, derived from the fairly safe Labour seat of Kensington North, and the overwhelmingly Conservative Kensington South; this was abolished for the 1997 general election. The seat was mostly replaced by Regent's Park and Kensington North which until its 2010 abolition was represented by Labour MPs, being won twice during the Blair Ministry, and was partly replaced by Kensington and Chelsea which was held by Malcolm Rifkind (Conservative) until his resignation at the 2015 general election.

#### Summary of results (first creation)

The old seat returned Conservative MPs from 1974 up to and including its last general election in 1992. At its sole by-election in 1988 the seat was won by its smallest majority, a highly marginal 3.4% – a by-election which saw a majority turnout and a Labour splinter party candidate, for the Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988) achieve fourth place attracting 5% of the vote yet standing in the year of the formal amalgamation of the main SDP splinter group with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats who stood as the Social and Liberal Democrats and seven years after the formation of the official SDP-Liberal Alliance.

### Second creation

The constituency was recreated by adopting the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies of the Boundary Commission at the 2010 general election, combining elements of the two constituencies.

#### Summary of results (second creation)

The 2015 result was a narrower result than 2010, and gave the seat the 126th-most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. The runner-up party remained the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell by 13.9% to 5.6% of votes cast.
In the June 2017 election, three recounts occurred, the first two producing extremely close results with the latter producing a Labour majority of only 20+ votes. After the two recounts due to fatigue among the staff the counting was suspended to allow them to "rest and recuperate". The third recount gave Labour a majority of 20, the first time the constituency had become a Labour seat since its creation, and made it the Labour Party's most vulnerable seat.

## Constituency profile

Kensington is mostly residential — housing varies between the expensive apartments with manicured garden squares or terraces of South Kensington, that has some of the most exclusive real estate in the world located in the West End of London and, by contrast, North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove have, for the most part, dense social housing, tower blocks in output areas in inner West London with high rankings in the 2000-compiled Index of Multiple Deprivation. Kensington High Street is an upmarket shopping hub, Kensington Palace is the residence of members of the Royal Family, and Kensington Palace Gardens is the site of many embassies and a few private residences of very affluent homeowners. South Kensington also borders Hyde Park and includes the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert.
Earls Court, Brompton, Holland Park and Notting Hill have their own characters. Earls Court is less affluent than its neighbours; while it is undergoing rapid gentrification and includes its own areas for the super-rich, there are still old hotels and bedsits around the site of the former Earls Court Exhibition Centre, which extends into the historically marginal Hammersmith constituency. Notting Hill is an affluent, highly cosmopolitan area which hosts the Notting Hill Carnival, led by the area's Afro-Caribbean community. It fell on hard times in the twentieth century, being associated with low-rent flats and multiple-occupancy homes, but has since been gentrified.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Member | Party | Party |
| Feb 1974 | Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams | | Conservative |
| 1988 by-election | Dudley Fishburn | | Conservative |
| 1997 | constituency abolished: see Kensington and Chelsea | constituency abolished: see Kensington and Chelsea | constituency abolished: see Kensington and Chelsea |
| 2010 | Sir Malcolm Rifkind | | Conservative |
| 2015 | Victoria Borwick | | Conservative |
| 2017 | Emma Dent Coad | | Labour |
| 2019 | Felicity Buchan | | Conservative |

## Election results
### Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Felicity Buchan | 16,768 | 38.3 | −3.9 |
| | Labour | Emma Dent Coad | 16,618 | 38.0 | −4.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Sam Gyimah | 9,312 | 21.3 | +9.1 |
| | Green | Vivien Lichtenstein | 535 | 1.2 | −0.8 |
| | Brexit Party | Jay Aston | 384 | 0.9 | New |
| | CPA | Roger Phillips | 70 | 0.2 | New |
| | Touch Love Worldwide | Harriet Gore | 47 | 0.1 | New |
| | Workers Revolutionary | Scott Dore | 28 | 0.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 150 | 0.3 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,762 | 67.7 | +3.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 64,609 | | |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +0.2 | |
General election 2017: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Emma Dent Coad | 16,333 | 42.2 | +11.1 |
| | Conservative | Victoria Borwick | 16,313 | 42.2 | −10.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Annabel Mullin | 4,724 | 12.2 | +6.6 |
| | Green | Jennifer Nadel | 767 | 2.0 | −3.1 |
| | Independent | James Torrance | 393 | 1.0 | New |
| | Independent | Peter Marshall | 98 | 0.3 | New |
| | Alliance for Green Socialism | John Lloyd | 49 | 0.1 | −0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 20 | 0.0 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,677 | 63.8 | +6.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 60,588 | | |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +10.6 | |
Kensington was the last constituency to be declared in the 2017 general election. The result was extremely close in Kensington, which had been considered a safe Conservative seat. After three counts on 8 and 9 June, which appeared to show Labour majorities of between 36 and 50, counting was suspended due to fatigue. The result was announced later on 9 June.
General election 2015: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Victoria Borwick | 18,199 | 52.3 | +2.2 |
| | Labour | Rod Abouharb | 10,838 | 31.1 | +5.6 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Robin McGhee | 1,962 | 5.6 | −14.0 |
| | Green | Robina Rose | 1,765 | 5.1 | +3.0 |
| | UKIP | Jack Bovill | 1,557 | 4.5 | +2.4 |
| | CISTA | Tony Auguste | 211 | 0.6 | New |
| | Animal Welfare | Andrew Knight | 158 | 0.5 | New |
| | Alliance for Green Socialism | Toby Abse | 115 | 0.3 | −0.3 |
| | New Independent Centralists | Roland Courtenay | 23 | 0.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,361 | 21.2 | −3.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,828 | 57.0 | +3.7 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,133 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −1.7 | |
General election 2010: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Malcolm Rifkind | 17,595 | 50.1 | +6.2 |
| | Labour | Sam Gurney | 8,979 | 25.5 | −4.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Robin Meltzer | 6,872 | 19.6 | −0.6 |
| | UKIP | Stephen James Cleeve | 754 | 2.1 | +1.0 |
| | Green | Melan Ebrahimi-Fardouée | 753 | 2.1 | −2.4 |
| | Alliance for Green Socialism | Eddie Adams | 197 | 0.6 | +0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,616 | 24.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,150 | 53.3 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 65,975 | | |
| | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) |

### Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Dudley Fishburn | 15,540 | 50.3 | +2.8 |
| | Labour | Patricia Holmes | 11,992 | 38.8 | +5.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Christopher Shirley | 2,770 | 9.0 | −8.2 |
| | Green | Ajay Burlingham-Johnson | 415 | 1.3 | −0.4 |
| | Natural Law | Anthony W. Hardy | 90 | 0.3 | New |
| | Anti-Federalist League | Anne Bulloch | 71 | 0.2 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,548 | 11.5 | −2.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 30,878 | 73.3 | +8.6 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 42,129 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −1.4 | |

### Elections in the 1980s

1988 Kensington by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Dudley Fishburn | 9,829 | 41.6 | −5.9 |
| | Labour | Patricia Holmes | 9,014 | 38.1 | +4.8 |
| | SLD | William Goodhart | 2,546 | 10.8 | −6.4 |
| | SDP | John Martin | 1,190 | 5.04 | New |
| | Green | Phylip Hobson | 572 | 2.42 | +0.7 |
| | Rainbow Alliance – Payne & Pleasure | Cynthia Payne | 193 | 0.82 | New |
| | Monster Raving Loony | Screaming Lord Sutch | 61 | 0.26 | New |
| | London Class War Candidate | John Duignan | 60 | 0.25 | New |
| | Anti Left-Wing Fascist | Brian Goodier | 31 | 0.13 | New |
| | Free Trade Liberal – Europe Out! | Thomas McDermott | 31 | 0.13 | New |
| | Fair Wealth & Health | Roy Edey | 30 | 0.13 | New |
| | Leveller Party | William Scola | 27 | 0.11 | New |
| | Anti-Yuppie | John Crowley | 24 | 0.10 | New |
| | Peace – Stop ITN Manipulation | John Connell | 20 | 0.08 | New |
| | Independent Janata Party | Kailash Trivedi | 5 | 0.02 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 815 | 3.45 | −8.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 23,633 | 51.6 | −13.1 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 45,830 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | -5.40 | |
General election 1987: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 14,818 | 47.5 | +1.5 |
| | Labour | Benjamin Bousquet | 10,371 | 33.3 | +3.8 |
| | SDP | William Goodhart | 5,379 | 17.2 | −4.9 |
| | Green | Roger Shorter | 528 | 1.7 | −0.4 |
| | Humanist | Lana Carrick | 65 | 0.2 | New |
| | Public Independent Plaintiff Party | Muriel Hughes | 30 | 0.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,447 | 14.2 | −2.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,191 | 64.7 | +2.4 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 48,212 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1983: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 14,274 | 46.0 | −5.3 |
| | Labour | Benjamin Bousquet | 9,173 | 29.5 | −5.7 |
| | SDP | William Goodhart | 6,873 | 22.1 | New |
| | Ecology | Jonathon Porritt | 649 | 2.1 | 0.0 |
| | Independent | T.F. Knight | 86 | 0.3 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,101 | 16.5 | +0.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,055 | 62.3 | −2.3 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 49,584 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 17,361 | 51.3 | +6.1 |
| | Labour | Patricia Holmes | 11,898 | 35.2 | −4.4 |
| | Liberal | Bobbie Vincent-Emery | 3,537 | 10.5 | −4.7 |
| | Ecology | Nicholas Albery | 698 | 2.1 | New |
| | National Front | Christopher Hopewell | 356 | 1.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,463 | 16.1 | +10.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,850 | 64.6 | +8.2 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 52,396 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election October 1974: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 15,562 | 45.2 | −0.9 |
| | Labour | John Tilley | 13,645 | 39.6 | +6.4 |
| | Liberal | R. Cohen | 5,236 | 15.2 | −5.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,917 | 5.6 | −7.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,443 | 56.4 | −9.4 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 61,105 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election February 1974: Kensington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Brandon Rhys-Williams | 18,425 | 46.1 | |
| | Labour | John Tilley | 13,293 | 33.2 | |
| | Liberal | Robert LeFever | 8,270 | 20.7 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,132 | 12.9 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,988 | 65.8 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 60,818 | | |
| | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) |