# Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency)

Smethwick is a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, abolished for the February 1974 general election, and re-established for the 2024 general election, when it was formed from the abolished Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward. It is currently represented by Gurinder Josan of the Labour Party.

## Boundaries
### 1918–1974

The County Borough of Smethwick.

### 2024–present

The re-established constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
* The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of: Abbey; Blackheath (polling districts BLA, BLB, BLC, BLD, BLE, BLF and BLH); Bristnall; Langley; Old Warley; St. Pauls; Smethwick; Soho and Victoria.
It comprises the whole of the former Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from the abolished constituency of Halesowen and Rowley Regis, thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.

## History

The constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate.
In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a road traffic accident less than twenty four hours after the count. The constituency was the subject of national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament, in a campaign with racial overtones.

## Members of Parliament
### MPs 1888–1999

| Election | Election | Member | Party |
| | 1918 | John Davison | Labour |
| | 1926 | Sir Oswald Mosley | Labour |
| | 1931 | Sir Oswald Mosley | New Party |
| | 1931 | Roy Wise | Conservative |
| | 1945 | Alfred Dobbs | Labour |
| | 1945 | Patrick Gordon Walker | Labour |
| | 1964 | Peter Griffiths | Conservative |
| | 1966 | Andrew Faulds | Labour |
| Feb 1974 | Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Warley East | constituency abolished: see Warley East |

### MPs since 2024

Warley prior to 2024
| Election | Election | Member | Party |
| | 2024 | Gurinder Josan | Labour |

## Elections
### Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Gurinder Josan | 16,858 | 48.0 | −9.0 |
| | Reform UK | Pete Durnell | 5,670 | 16.1 | +10.1 |
| | Conservative | Kate Fairhurst | 4,546 | 12.9 | −17.3 |
| | Green | Rod MacRorie | 2,741 | 7.8 | +5.5 |
| | Workers Party | Nahim Rubani | 2,449 | 7.0 | N/A |
| | Independent | Jay Anandou | 1,322 | 3.8 | N/A |
| | Liberal Democrats | Oliver Patrick | 1,018 | 2.9 | −1.6 |
| | Independent | Christopher Graham | 348 | 1.0 | N/A |
| | TUSC | Ravaldeep Bath | 163 | 0.5 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,188 | 31.9 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,115 | 48.2 | −9.3 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Andrew Faulds | 16,077 | 52.2 | −2.2 |
| | Conservative | Brian Rathbone | 13,968 | 45.4 | +1.3 |
| | Liberal | Mihir Gupta | 747 | 2.4 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,109 | 6.8 | −3.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 30,792 | 68.1 | −7.3 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.7 | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Andrew Faulds | 18,440 | 54.4 | +11.8 |
| | Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 14,950 | 44.1 | −3.5 |
| | British National | R. Stanley | 508 | 1.5 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,490 | 10.3 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,898 | 75.4 | +1.3 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −7.6 | |
General election 1964: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 16,690 | 47.6 | +2.3 |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 14,916 | 42.6 | −12.1 |
| | Liberal | David Hugill | 3,172 | 9.0 | New |
| | Independent | Dudley Trevor Davies | 262 | 0.8 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,774 | 5.0 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,040 | 74.1 | −1.8 |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | −7.2 | |

### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 20,670 | 54.7 | −3.5 |
| | Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 17,126 | 45.3 | +3.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,544 | 9.4 | −7.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 37,796 | 75.9 | +0.4 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -3.5 | |
General election 1955: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 23,151 | 58.2 | −2.4 |
| | Conservative | John Wells | 16,656 | 41.8 | +2.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,495 | 16.4 | −4.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,807 | 75.5 | −8.5 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -2.5 | |
General election 1951: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 27,739 | 60.6 | −1.5 |
| | Conservative | A. Norman Giles | 18,012 | 39.4 | +1.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,727 | 21.2 | −3.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,751 | 83.5 | −3.4 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 | |
General election 1950: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 28,750 | 62.1 | −6.7 |
| | Conservative | J. Fallon | 17,553 | 37.9 | +6.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,197 | 24.2 | −13.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,303 | 86.9 | +21.5 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -6.7 | |

### Elections in the 1940s

1945 Smethwick by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 |
| | Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −2.9 | |
General election 1945: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Alfred Dobbs | 20,522 | 65.9 | +18.4 |
| | Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 10,637 | 34.1 | −18.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,885 | 31.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,159 | 72.4 | +1.7 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −18.4 | |

### Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 16,575 | 52.5 | −7.6 |
| | Labour | Charles Wortham Brook | 15,023 | 47.5 | +7.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,552 | 5.0 | −17.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,598 | 70.7 | −4.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −7.7 | |
General election 1931: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 20,945 | 60.1 | +25.9 |
| | Labour | W. Ernest Lawrence | 13,927 | 39.9 | −14.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,018 | 20.2 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,872 | 74.7 | −4.2 |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +20.3 | |

### Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oswald Mosley | 19,550 | 54.8 | −2.3 |
| | Unionist | Roy Wise | 12,210 | 34.2 | +0.5 |
| | Liberal | Maude Egerton Marshall | 3,909 | 11.0 | +1.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,340 | 20.6 | −2.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,669 | 78.9 | +0.3 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.4 | |
1926 Smethwick by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oswald Mosley | 16,077 | 57.1 | +4.8 |
| | Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 9,495 | 33.7 | −14.0 |
| | Liberal | Edwin Bayliss | 2,600 | 9.2 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,582 | 23.4 | +18.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,862 | 78.6 | +0.4 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −9.4 | |
General election 1924: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Davison | 14,491 | 52.3 | −2.4 |
| | Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 13,238 | 47.7 | +2.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,253 | 4.6 | −4.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 27,729 | 78.2 | +6.5 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -2.4 | |
General election 1923: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Davison | 13,550 | 54.7 | +4.0 |
| | Unionist | Edmund Brocklebank | 11,217 | 45.3 | −4.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,333 | 9.4 | +8.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 24,767 | 71.7 | −4.2 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −4.0 | |
General election 1922: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Davison | 13,141 | 50.7 | −1.5 |
| | Unionist | Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox | 12,759 | 49.3 | +1.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 382 | 1.4 | −3.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,900 | 75.9 | +21.2 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 | |

### Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Davison | 9,389 | 52.2 | |
| | Women's Party | Christabel Pankhurst | 8,614 | 47.8 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 775 | 4.4 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 18,003 | 54.7 | |
| | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) |