This seat has seen its share of titanic electoral confrontations; Fulham East in 1933, Hammersmith South in 1949 and Fulham in 1986 in by-elections; and the repeated 'Battles of Barons Court' in the 1950s and 1960s in general elections. It is still a close fight. In 1997, Labour council leader Iain Coleman beat Matthew Carrington, Tory MP for Fulham 1987-97. There will be a rematch between Coleman and Carrington at the next election.

Fulham has been climbing the social ladder for decades and now has the reputation of being London's most overpriced residential area. The steady advance of Conservatism in the area is concentrated in a group of wards south of Fulham Broadway, which have swung relentlessly to the right. Sulivan, for instance, has seen its Tory lead stretch, against the trend, from 5 points in 1986 to 34 points in 1998. The northern wards around Hammersmith Broadway have, by contrast, followed the London trend towards Labour. Ravenscourt Park and Brook Green are both sought-after areas; the latter has had several million-pound house sales recently. Labour gained both wards in 1998. It seems that different sorts of people are moving into each end of the seat.

Labour still led by 1.6% in 1998, but were 5.3% behind in 1999 and well adrift perhaps 18 points down in the 2000 GLA election. Labour will need to call upon every resource to win this marginal seat again.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 3,842 (7.1%)  Conservative target 56
MP Iain Coleman
1997 (Turnout 68.7%)
Labour	25,262	46.8%
Conservative	21,420	39.6%
Liberal Democrat	4,728	8.8%
Referendum	1,023	1.9%
New Labour	695	1.3%
Green	562	1.0%
Others	336	0.5%

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For Hammersmith & Fulham 2001 Election result - click here.