Watford (UK Parliament constituency)

The constituency comprises the whole of the Borough of Watford, together with five wards from Three Rivers District. Two of the Three Rivers wards, Carpenders Park and Oxhey Hall, are to the south of Watford town and include mostly prosperous, elevated, commuter villages. The remaining three, Abbots Langley, Langleybury and Leavesden, are to the north of Watford, the first of which is a large village, and is mixed in character and levels of income.^[2]

Watford has a considerable service sector economy, with several notable headquarters, and engineering, trade-craft, and distribution in its economy. However, it is also a commuter town to the City of London. British Waterways, J D Wetherspoon, Camelot Group, Iveco, manufacturers of commercial vehicles; part of Balfour Beatty; Bathstore, the largest bathroom retailer in the UK; construction firm Taylor Woodrow; and Mothercare are the largest of these. The borough is also the UK base of many multinationals including C. H. Robinson, Total Oil, TK Maxx, Costco, Vinci and Beko appliances. International golf tournaments such as the 2006 World Golf Championship have taken place at The Grove hotel.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[3]

Before the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the area was part of the three-seat constituency of Hertfordshire. Upon this act, it took up the western division of the county; however, later seats such as South West Hertfordshire, established in 1950, have reduced its reach, as settlements in those areas, and Watford itself, have grown.

Political history

The seat has been a bellwether of the national result since February 1974, and since 1945 has only voted against the winning party twice: in 1951 and 1970. Watford saw considerable Liberal Democrat opposition in 2005, achieving second place, taking many Labour votes with the Conservative candidate close behind.^[4]

Before the 2010 general election it was a three-way marginal seat in which local Tories, Labour supporters and Liberal Democrats aimed to garner support for their candidate. This election in Watford was won by Richard Harrington (Con) with 34.9% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats narrowly missed out on the seat with 32.4% of the vote and the defeat for Labour's candidate, Claire Ward, was a pronounced change with 26.7% of the vote.^[5]

In 2015, the result saw a significantly increased majority for Harrington of more than 9,000 votes over Labour, whilst the Liberal Democrats fell back to third. The 2017 election saw Labour significantly cut the Conservative majority to 2,092. Harrington retired at the 2019 election, when a new Conservative candidate, Dean Russell, increased the majority to 4,433 over Labour.

However, in the 2024 UK General Election, Labour MP Matt Turmaine was elected with a majority of 4,723 votes, the first time the constituency was Labour since 2010.

Prominent frontbenchers

Dennis Herbert was Deputy Speaker from 1931 to 1943.

Major John Freeman was only a third-tier (junior) minister in the War Office as MP. His later unusually prominent positions in diplomacy led to his being appointed a member of the Privy Council and thereby being Rt Hon as of 1966.

Tristan Garel-Jones was Minister for Europe for three years of the Major ministry.

Both Herbert and Garel-Jones opted as peers in later life to use Watford as the territorial designation of their peerages.

• Parts of the Sessional Division of Watford and Dacorum.^[6]

The constituency was established by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (which followed on from the Third Reform Act) as one of four Divisions of the abolished three-member Parliamentary County of Hertfordshire, and was formally named as the Western or Watford Division of Hertfordshire. It included the towns of Watford, Rickmansworth, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring.

• The Urban Districts of Bushey, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, and Watford; and
• The Rural District of Watford parishes of Aldenham, Rickmansworth Rural and Watford Rural.^[7][8]

Aldenham was transferred from St Albans.  Northern half of constituency, including Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring formed the majority of the new Hemel Hempstead Division.

Reconstituted as a Borough Constituency comprising the Municipal Borough of Watford.^[9]  Remainder of the constituency formed the bulk of the new County Constituency of South West Hertfordshire.

Map of boundaries 1997-2024

• The Borough of Watford;
• The District of Three Rivers wards of Abbots Langley and Leavesden (transferred from South West Hertfordshire); and
• The District of St Albans wards of Park Street and St Stephens (transferred from the abolished South Hertfordshire constituency).^[10]

• The Borough of Watford; and
• The District of Three Rivers wards of Abbots Langley, Carpenders Park, Langleybury, Leavesden, and Oxhey Hall.^[11][12]

Three wards further wards in the Three Rivers District transferred from South West Hertfordshire.  Park Street and St Stephens transferred to St Albans.

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Hertsmere ward of Bushey North
• The Borough of Watford.^[13]

The parts in the District of Three Rivers were transferred to South West Hertfordshire. In order to bring the electorate back within the permitted range, the Bushey North ward was moved in from the Hertsmere constituency.

Hertfordshire prior to 1885

General election 2024: Watford^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Matt Turmaine	15,708	35.3	4.0
	Conservative	Dean Russell	10,985	24.7	17.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Stotesbury	7,577	17.0	0.7
	Reform UK	Gary Ling	4,930	11.1	New
	Workers Party	Khalid Mahmood Chohan	2,659	6.0	New
	Green	Arran Bowen-la Grange	2,428	5.5	5.2
	Heritage	Sarah Knott	168	0.4	New
Majority			4,723	10.62	3.02
Registered electors			73,000
Turnout			44,455	61.0%	7.50
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 2019: Watford^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dean Russell	26,421	45.5	0.1
	Labour	Chris Ostrowski	21,988	37.9	4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Stotesbury	9,323	16.1	7.0
	SDP	Michael McGetrick	333	0.6	New
Majority			4,433	7.6	4.0
Turnout			58,065	69.7	1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.0

Background to Conservative candidates

In July 2007 former candidate Ali Miraj, a candidate for Aberavon in 2001, was dropped from the candidates list by the Conservative Party after he complained about David Cameron's leadership style and allegedly demanded a peerage.^[21][22] The public selected his former campaign manager Ian Oakley, who had been a candidate for Newport East in 2001 in the first Open Primary to be organised by the Conservative Party in November 2006. In July 2008, Oakley, withdrew candidature after being arrested for conducting a campaign of harassment against the local Liberal Democrats,^[23][24] for which he was convicted and given an 18-week suspended prison sentence and 12-month supervision order on 13 October 2008.^[25]

In December 2008 Watford Conservative Association selected a new candidate, Richard Harrington.^[26]

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Arnold Ward
• Liberal: Hedley Le Bas^[42]

• Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)

51°39′N 0°24′W / 51.650°N 0.400°W / 51.650; -0.400