Pride and emotions of Croydon’s elected MPs

Malcolm Wicks giving his acceptance speech as Labour MP for Croydon North. Photo: Rebecca Lindsay

The Tory candidate for Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, has defeated the party’s former MP, Andrew Pelling, who was standing as an Independent.Labour were hoping to gain the seat but Mr Barwell won the battle with a majority of nearly three thousand votes. The Conservative swing from Labour of 3.3 per cent has fallen far short of the national trend.

Croydon is split into 3 constituencies; Central, North and South. It was expected that Croydon North would stay Labour and South would remain Conservative so the contest in the Croydon Central constituency seemed the most fascinating, hard fought, with the Tory vote in danger of being split as a result of its MP, Mr Pelling, parting company with them in the middle of his term.

Croydon Central –

The seat was won by Gavin Barwell of the Conservative Party, with 19,657 votes. In his speech, Mr Barwell mentioned the outgoing Andrew Pelling.

And in an interview following the declaration, Mr Barwell described the emotions of being elected to Parliament by his home town.

Other candidates included

Ralph Atkinson, UKIP- 997

John Cartwright, Monster Raving Loony Party- 192

Michael Castle, Independent- 138

James Gitau, The Christian Party- 264

Bernice Clare Golberg, Green Party- 581

Peter Lambell, Liberal Democrats- 6,553

Cliff Le May, BNP- 1,448

Andrew John Pelling, Independent- 3,239

Gerry Ryan, Labour Party- 16,688

Croydon North

The seat was won by Malcolm Wicks of the Labour Party, with 28,949 votes. In his acceptance speech, Mr Wicks criticised the way the Conservative campaign had been run.

In his speech after the declarations, Mr Hadden responded to Mr Wicks’ acceptance address by thanking the council staff who had been in charge. In response to comments made by Mr Wicks about his campaign, Mr Hadden said it ‘wasn’t appropriate to indulge in tittle tattle’, before thanking his election team.

When interviewed after the declarations, Mr Hadden maintained the overall results of the night were positive news for the Conservative Party, as they had still won 2 of the 3 seats in the borough. In response to comments made by Mr Wicks about his campaign, Mr Hadden said it ‘wasn’t appropriate to indulge in tittle tattle’, before thanking his election team.

Other candidates included

Jason Hadden, Conservative Party- 12,466

Gerry Jerome, Liberal Democrats- 7,226

Sasha Khan, Green Party- 1,017

Jonathan Serter, UKIP- 891

Mohamed Bazeer Seyed Mohamed, Independent- 111

Mohommad Shaikh, Respect- 272

Ben Stevenson, Communist Party- 160

Novlette Louise Williams, Christian Party- 586

Croydon South

The seat was won by Richard Ottaway of the Conservative Party, with 28,684 votes. Mr Ottaway reflected on the General Election campaign.