Hendon is the first part of London to greet people arriving from the north on the M1; an untidy tangle of flyovers and the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, a revolutionary development when it opened in 1976. Hendon is a creation of the 20th Century; most of the private housing sprang up during the interwar period and is crisscrossed by arterial roads. There is a large old-fashioned council estate at Watling (Burnt Oak) and on the site of the old airfield the large, confusing and rather slummy 1970s Grahame Park estate, but also a prosperous suburb at Mill Hill. Like Finchley and Golders Green, the constituency has a prominent Jewish community.

Labour has only won Hendon (North) in the landslide elections of 1945 and 1997 - even in 1966 Tory MP Ian Orr-Ewing held on by a whisker. However, at the next election Labour might well hold Hendon even if the party's majority nationally is slashed. Thanks to an enormous swing in 1997, the Labour lead here was 12.3% - the Conservatives would be doing well to overhaul this nationally. In Hendon, however, Labour support seems to be holding up well - the party was still ahead by a full 8.3% in the 1998 borough elections, only 0.5% behind in the Euro election and 5.5% behind in the GLA elections in 2000. Labour does not have to recover, or bring to the polls (turnout in 1997 was rather low), too much extra support to hold Hendon.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 6,155 (12.3%)  Conservative target 101
MP Andrew Dismore
1997 (Turnout 65.7%)
Labour	24,683	49.3%
Conservative	18,528	37.0%
Liberal Democrat	5,427	10.8%
Referendum	978	2.0%
UK Independence	267	0.5%
Other	153	0.3%

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For Hendon 2001 Election result - click here.