Bexleyheath and Crayford, in the far south east of London where the capital shades into Kent, was supposed to be a pretty safe Conservative seat when the Crayford wards were added to Bexleyheath in 1997. The main battle was thought to be for the Tory nomination, and Thatcherite David Evennett won out over the centrist Bexleyheath MP Sir Cyril Townsend. The large London swing carried the seat over into the Labour column and Nigel Beard defeated Evennett by a respectable margin.

Bexleyheath is a very suburban area, with many commuters travelling on the rather poor trains into central London. There are few extremes of wealth or poverty in the area. Its wards are mostly quite mixed politically although with Conservatism predominating. Crayford, added in 1997, tends to be Labour although Bostall, another additional ward, is rather Conservative. Overall, Labour held a three point lead in the 1998 borough elections, but lagged by 10 points in Euro 99 and a similar margin in 2000. If Labour win the next election, the party might well be able to overcome such a relatively shallow midterm trough in Bexleyheath and Crayford, and frustrate David Evennett again.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 3,415 (7.1%)  Conservative target 55
MP Nigel Beard
1997 (Turnout 76.1%)
Labour	21,942	45.5%
Conservative	18,527	38.4%
Liberal Democrat	5,391	11.2%
Referendum	1,551	3.2%
BNP	429	0.9%
UK Independence	383	0.8%

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For Bexleyheath & Crayford 2001 Election result - click here.