Romford is an almost entirely suburban constituency on the fringes where London spreads out into Essex. It is uniformly middle class but unglamorous. The 'town' is big enough in itself to act as a centre for areas of east London and Essex. It was a safe Conservative seat from its creation in its modern form in 1974 until 1997, when to near universal surprise it fell to Labour.

Like other seats in the outer London borough of Havering, the picture of what has happened since 1997 is obscured by a powerful Residents' political organisation whose support cannot be straightforwardly translated into national political terms. While the Tories led Labour 44-32% in Romford in 1998, 'others' polled 16%. Residents won 11.8% in the GLA elections in 2000 across the whole of Havering and Redbridge, and their support was presumably concentrated in Havering. There was no such distraction in the Euro election of 1999 and the Conservatives were easy winners, with a 45-27% lead over Labour and another 9% voting UKIP. It seems improbable that Labour's Eileen Gordon could hold Romford. The likely winner is Conservative candidate and local councillor Andrew Rosindell, a devout Thatcherite and almost self-parodic Essex Man stereotype, but perennially popular in his Chase Cross ward. He has converted Chase Cross, which he gained from the Lib Dems in 1990, into the ward with the highest Conservative share of the vote in London 81% and won a 20% swing from Labour between 1994 and 1998. Rosindell is clearly a formidable campaigner.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 649 (1.5%)  Conservative target 11
MP Eileen Gordon
1997 (Turnout 70.5%)
Labour	18,187	43.2%
Conservative	17,538	41.6%
Liberal Democrat	3,341	7.9%
Referendum	1,431	3.4%
Others	1,622	3.8%

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For Romford 2001 Election result - click here.