The seat includes most of Dover District. It comprises the towns of Deal, Dover, Walmer and surrounding villages in a productive chalkland, long-cultivated area adjoining the Strait of Dover. Since 1983 it has excluded the northern part of the District in and around the historically important Cinque Port of Sandwich with its golf links and accessible shore, which was then transferred to the South Thanet seat.
Since 1945 Dover has been a Labour/Conservative swing seat. In local elections, most of its rural villages and the two small towns favour the Conservative Party, whereas Dover favours the Labour Party, as well as the former mixed mining and agricultural villages in the local coal belt (East Kent coalfield), such as Aylesham. Labour's vote held on very solidly here in 2005, but the seat went Conservative in the 2010 election on a swing of 10.4% compared with a 4.9% swing nationally.
Cinque Port Seatedit
Dover's representation was originally as a Cinque Port constituency. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports nominated one member as with other Cinque Ports, but this was outlawed by an act of Parliament in 1689.[3] There was still some residual influence but there was also a local independent element in the borough with two local leading families, the Papillons and Furneses, starting to send MPs. By the mid eighteenth century it had come more under government influence through the influence of the Earl of Hardwicke, although government control was often more fragile than it seemed.[4]
Dover lost its status as a Cinque Port seat, becoming a borough seat under the Reform Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45).
Boundariesedit
Map of boundaries 2010-2024
Map of boundaries from 2024
1918–1950: The Boroughs of Dover and Deal, the Urban District of Walmer, and the Rural Districts of Dover and Eastry.
1950–1983: The Boroughs of Dover, Deal, and Sandwich, the Rural District of Dover, and the Rural District of Eastry except the parishes included in the Isle of Thanet constituency.
1983–2010: The District of Dover wards of Aylesham, Barton, Buckland, Capel-le-Ferne, Castle, Cornilo, Eastry, Eythorne, Lower Walmer, Lydden and Temple Ewell, Maxton and Elms Vale, Middle Deal, Mill Hill, Mongeham, Noninstone, North Deal, Pineham, Priory, Ringwould, River, St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, St Radigund's, Shepherdswell with Coldred, Tower Hamlets, Town and Pier, and Upper Walmer.
2010–present: The District of Dover wards of Aylesham, Buckland, Capel-le-Ferne, Castle, Eastry, Eythorne and Shepherdswell, Lydden and Temple Ewell, Maxton, Elms Vale and Priory, Middle Deal and Sholden, Mill Hill, North Deal, Ringwould, River, St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, St Radigund's, Tower Hamlets, Town and Pier, Walmer, and Whitfield.
Proposed
edit
The District of Dover wards of: Alkham & Capel-le-Ferne; Aylesham, Eythorne & Shepherdswell; Buckland; Dover Downs & River; Eastry Rural; Guston, Kingsdown & St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe; Maxton & Elms Vale; Middle Deal; Mill Hill; North Deal; St. Radigunds; Tower Hamlets; Town & Castle; Walmer; Whitfield.[5]
Minor change to the current constituency of Dover due to revision of ward boundaries.
Charlie Elphicke scandaledit
From 2010, the MP was Charlie Elphicke, elected as a member of the Conservative Party. On 3 November 2017, Elphicke was suspended by the Conservative Party after "serious allegations" were made against him, and then sat as an Independent until 12 December 2018 when he had the Conservative Whip restored ahead of a party vote on a no-confidence motion against Theresa May.[6][7] In July 2019, the whip was withdrawn again after he was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service with three counts of sexual assault against two women.[8][9][10] Charlie Elphicke stood down as an MP shortly before the 2019 UK General Election, with his wife, Natalie Elphicke standing as the Conservative Party candidate in his place. Natalie Elphicke was elected as the MP for Dover at the 2019 UK General Election, increasing on her husband's majority.
Members of Parliamentedit
Cinque Port/Parliamentary Borough 1386–1918edit
MPs 1386–1660edit
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)
^"Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^"The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – South East | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
^"The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
^ abKhan, Shehab (3 November 2017). "Charlie Elphicke: Tory MP suspended and reported to police over 'serious' allegations". The Independent. London. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
^"Anger as accused MPs get whip restored for May vote". BBC News. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
^"MP charged with three sexual assaults". Crown Prosecution Service. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
^"Tory MP Charlie Elphicke Charged With Three Counts Of Sexual Assault, Huffington Post". 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
^Francis, Paul (22 July 2019). "Dover MP Charlie Elphicke has party whip withdrawn". Kent Online. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw"History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
^Wedgwood, Josiah C. (1936). History Of Parliament (1439-1509). p. 779.
^ abcdefghijklmnop"History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
^ abcdefghij"History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaStooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 161–163. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
^Thomson was re-elected in 1832 but had also been elected for Manchester, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Dover
^Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836. p. 75.
^"General Election". Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service. 29 July 1837. p. 12. Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Dover Election". Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette. 29 July 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Elections in Kent". Kentish Gazette. 1 August 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Ralph Bernal". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. University College London. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^Malcolmson, A. P. W. (2006). The Pursuit of the Heiress: Aristocratic Marriage in Ireland 1740-1840 (Illustrated ed.). Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 176. ISBN 9781903688656. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^"The Brazil Controversy". The Spectator. 18 February 1865. p. 13. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael A.; Rubinstein, Hilary L., eds. (2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^Hawkins, Angus (2015). Victorian Political Culture: 'Habits of Heart & Mind'. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-19-872848-1. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^"Dover". Cheltenham Chronicle. 31 March 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ abcFisher, David R. "Dover". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
^ abcdefghijklmnoCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^"Dover". South Eastern Gazette. 24 March 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 7 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Representation of Dover". Kentish Gazette. 13 October 1868. p. 6. Retrieved 8 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"To the freeman and electors of the Borough of Dover". Dover Express. 5 September 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.