Enfield Southgate's ejection of Michael Portillo in 1997 was one of the most celebrated moments of the election; Brian Cathcart's book about election night 1997 was called Were You Still Up for Portillo? Southgate was in the middle of the band of north London where Labour achieved their highest swings in the country. It consists of a slice of suburbia stretching from just south of the North Circular Road to the edge of greater London - Arnos Grove, Palmers Green, Southgate and Winchmore Hill. Most were true-blue until the late 1980s, when Labour started winning the southern wards. Like other London suburbs it has become more and more racially mixed, with a growing population of Indian origin and upwardly mobile Cypriots moving up from Tottenham and Edmonton. Labour were also helped by a poll showing them closing on Portillo the weekend before the election that attracted Lib Dem tactical voting.

The Conservatives have come out ahead in every contest in Southgate since 1997; narrowly (43-40%) in the 1998 local elections, and by more comfortable margins in Euro 1999 and the 2000 GLA elections. Conservative candidate John Flack replaces Portillo, who has since been returned for the truly safe Kensington and Chelsea seat, and must be reasonably confident of replacing Labour MP Stephen Twigg. And yet . . . demographic change continues in Labour's favour, Twigg is a popular MP and Southgate's Labour Party is quite strong and has been experimenting with a new style of constituency organisation.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 1,433 (3.1%)  Conservative target 23
MP Stephen Twigg
1997 (Turnout 70.7%)
Labour	20,570	44.2%
Conservative	19,137	41.1%
Liberal Democrat	4,966	10.7%
Referendum	1,342	2.9%
Others	518	1.1%

Politico's Bookstore - General Election Shop

Back to main London page
Back to main UK page

For Enfield Southgate 2001 Election result - click here.