Croydon South (UK Parliament constituency)

For the Croydon South constituency which covered a different area and existed 1918–1945 and 1950–1974, see Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency).

Croydon South is a constituency^{[n 1]} recreated in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Chris Philp, a Conservative.^{[n 2]} Croydon South was originally created in 1918.

Croydon South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Boundary within Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	71,541 (2023) [1]
Major settlements	Coulsdon, Purley, South Croydon
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Chris Philp (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	East Surrey

Political history

It was created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown so the Croydon seat was split into two seats. The first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.

From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.

Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.

In 1974 a fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from the northwestern part of East Surrey, covering Purley and Coulsdon, which had become parts of Greater London in 1965, rather than from the historic Croydon South.

Since its recreation, the constituency has been represented by three Conservative MPs. Sir William Clark, who had represented East Surrey since 1970, won the new seat in February 1974, and held it until his retirement in 1992. His successor, Sir Richard Ottaway, then held the seat until 2015, when he stood down and was succeeded by Chris Philp.^[2][3] Boundary changes have been minor and the 2015 result made the seat the 145th safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[4] At the 2015 general election, it was one of the Conservatives' safest seats in Greater London.^[5] Philp held the seat at the 2024 general election on a substantially reduced majority of just over 2,000, the lowest majority since the seat was created.

Constituency profile

Croydon South consists of affluent suburbia, including a significant minority of large houses with gardens on the North Downs escarpment. It has many well-to-do commuters taking advantage of the fast trains to the City and Gatwick Airport, plus a significant proportion of retired people. Included are the suburbs of Purley and Kenley, home to the Kenley Aerodrome

The village-like Selsdon – one of the few places in the seat where transport links are poor – has a place on the political map having spawned the phrase 'Selsdon Man',^{[citation needed]} its swing and voters first seen as an ideal bellwether for the national swing by the Conservative Party. The Purley Way, which runs mainly through Waddon, has become home to large retail estates for out-of-town shopping and leisure. Prior to 2018 Waddon was the sole Labour ward in the constituency – one of its councillors, Andrew Pelling, the former Conservative MP for Croydon Central, defected to the Labour Party.

Boundary changes before the 2024 election removed both Selsdon and Waddon from the seat and added the Park Hill & Whitgift ward, close to Croydon Town centre.

At the southern end of the constituency, Coulsdon has much in common with the residual county of Surrey of which it was a more intrinsically associated part until 1965 as it was excluded from Croydon County Borough on the county borough's creation in 1889.

Boundaries

Pre-1974:

Dates	Local authority	Maps	Wards
1918-1950	County Borough of Croydon		Central, East, South, and West.
1955-1974			Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.

In 1965, local government in Greater London was re-organised. This constituency was contained entirely within the new London Borough of Croydon from 1965, but new Constituency Boundaries would not take effect until 1974.

Post-1974:

Dates	Local authority	Maps	Wards
1974–1983	London Borough of Croydon		Coulsdon East, Purley, Sanderstead and Selsdon, Sanderstead North, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
1983–1997			Coulsdon East, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
1997–2010			Coulsdon East, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Waddon, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
2010–2024			Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Ballards, Waddon
2024–present			Coulsdon Town, Kenley, Old Coulsdon, Park Hill & Whitgift, Purley & Woodcote, Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, South Croydon[6]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Election		Name	Party	Notes
	1918	Ian Malcolm	Conservative	previously MP for Croydon
	1919 by-election	Allan Smith	Conservative
	1923	William Mitchell-Thomson	Conservative
	1932 by-election	Herbert Williams	Conservative
	1945	David Rees-Williams	Labour
	1950	constituency abolished

From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.

MPs 1955–1974

Election		Name	Party
	1955	Richard Thompson	Conservative
	1966	David Winnick	Labour
	1970	Richard Thompson	Conservative
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished

MPs 1974–

Election		Member	Party
	February 1974	Sir William Clark	Conservative
	1992	Sir Richard Ottaway	Conservative
	2015	Chris Philp	Conservative

Election results

Election results 1974–2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Croydon South^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Philp	19,757	40.0	−14.5
	Labour	Ben Taylor	17,444	35.3	+7.2
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Howard	4,384	8.9	−4.6
	Reform UK	Bob Bromley	4,149	8.4	+8.3
	Green	Elaine Garrod	2,859	5.8	+2.9
	Workers Party	Kulsum Hussin	612	1.2	New
	Independent	Mark Samuel	173	0.4	New
Majority			2,313	4.7	−21.7
Turnout			49,378	65.9	−5.2
Registered electors			74,968
	Conservative hold		Swing	−10.9

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[8]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	27,725	54.5
	Labour	14,317	28.1
	Liberal Democrats	6,885	13.5
	Green	1,466	2.9
	Others	442	0.9
	Brexit Party	59	0.1
Turnout		50,894	71.1
Electorate		71,541

General election 2019: Croydon South^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Philp	30,985	52.2	−2.2
	Labour	Olga FitzRoy	18,646	31.4	−4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Anna Jones	7,503	12.6	+6.8
	Green	Peter Underwood	1,782	3.0	+1.2
	UKIP	Kathleen Garner	442	0.7	−1.1
Majority			12,339	20.8	+2.2
Turnout			59,358	70.7	−2.6
Registered electors			83,977
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

General election 2017: Croydon South^[11][12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Philp	33,334	54.4	−0.1
	Labour	Jennifer Brathwaite	21,928	35.8	+11.0
	Liberal Democrats	Anna Jones	3,541	5.8	−0.2
	Green	Catherine Shelley	1,125	1.8	−1.9
	UKIP	Kathleen Garner	1,116	1.8	−8.7
	CPA	David Omamogho	213	0.3	New
Majority			11,406	18.6	−11.1
Turnout			61,247	73.3	+2.9
Registered electors			83,518
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.5

General election 2015: Croydon South^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Philp	31,448	54.5	+3.6
	Labour	Emily Benn	14,308	24.8	+4.8
	UKIP	Kathleen Garner	6,068	10.5	+6.1
	Liberal Democrats	Gill Hickson	3,448	6.0	−16.8
	Green	Peter Underwood	2,154	3.7	+2.0
	Independent	Mark Samuel	221	0.4	New
	Class War	Jon Bigger[15]	65	0.1	New
Majority			17,140	29.7	+1.6
Turnout			57,712	70.4	+1.1
Registered electors			82,010
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.6

General election 2010: Croydon South^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Ottaway	28,684	50.9	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Rix	12,866	22.8	+2.3
	Labour	Jane Avis	11,287	20.0	−4.1
	UKIP	Jeffrey Bolter	2,504	4.4	+2.3
	Green	Gordon Ross	981	1.7	New
Majority			15,818	28.1	+1.4
Turnout			56,322	69.3	+5.8
Registered electors			81,303
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.6

Elections in the 2000s

2005 notional result
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	26,355	51.8
	Labour	12,274	24.1
	Liberal Democrats	10,458	20.6
	Others	1,795	3.5
Turnout		50,882	63.5
Electorate		80,151

General election 2005: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Ottaway	25,320	51.8	+2.6
	Labour	Paul Smith	11,792	24.1	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	Sandra Lawman	10,049	20.6	+2.3
	UKIP	James Feisenberger	1,054	2.2	0.0
	Veritas	Graham Dare	497	1.0	New
	Independent	Mark Samuel	185	0.4	0.0
Majority			13,528	27.7	+8.4
Turnout			48,897	63.6	+2.2
Registered electors			75,812
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.2

General election 2001: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Ottaway	22,169	49.2	+1.9
	Labour	Gerry Ryan	13,472	29.9	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Anna-Nicolett Gallop	8,226	18.3	−2.8
	UKIP	Kathleen Garner	998	2.2	New
	Independent	Mark Samuel	195	0.4	+0.2
Majority			8,697	19.3	−2.7
Turnout			45,060	61.4	−12.1
Registered electors			73,372
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.3

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Ottaway	25,649	47.3	−14.3
	Labour	Charlie Burling	13,719	25.3	+9.0
	Liberal Democrats	Steven Gauge	11,441	21.1	−0.5
	Referendum	Tony Barber	2,631	4.9	New
	BNP	Paul Ferguson	354	0.7	New
	Independent	A.G. Harker	309	0.6	New
	Independent	Mark Samuel	96	0.2	−0.3
Majority			11,930	22.0	−18.7
Turnout			54,199	73.5	−4.1
Registered electors			73,787
	Conservative hold		Swing	−11.7

1992 notional result
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	35,937	61.7
	Liberal Democrats	12,599	21.6
	Labour	9,513	16.3
	Others	242	0.4
Turnout		58,291	78.0
Electorate		74,777

General election 1992: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Ottaway	31,993	63.7	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Billenness	11,568	23.0	−1.3
	Labour	Helen Salmon	6,444	12.8	+3.0
	Independent	Mark Samuel	239	0.5	New
Majority			20,425	40.7	+0.9
Turnout			50,244	77.6	+3.9
Registered electors			64,768
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Clark	30,732	64.1	−1.0
	Liberal	George Morrison	11,669	24.3	−2.8
	Labour	Geraint Davies	4,679	9.8	+2.0
	Green	Paul Baldwin	900	1.9	New
Majority			19,063	39.8	+1.8
Turnout			47,980	73.7	+2.6
Registered electors			65,085
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1983: Croydon South^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Clark	29,842	65.1	+0.3
	Liberal	James Forrest[18]	12,402	27.1	+6.2
	Labour	Robert C E Brooks[18]	3,568	7.8	−5.5
Majority			17,440	38.0	−5.9
Turnout			46,702	71.1	−5.7
Registered electors			64,482
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.9

Elections in the 1970s

1979 notional result[19]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	31,559	64.9
	Liberal	10,168	20.9
	Labour	6,450	13.3
	Others	476	1.0
Turnout		48,653
Electorate

General election 1979: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Clark[20]	30,874	64.9	+7.0
	Liberal	Peter Billenness[20]	10,006	21.0	−4.9
	Labour	John Bloom[20]	6,249	13.1	−3.1
	National Front	Roland Dummer[20]	469	1.0	New
Majority			20,868	43.9	+11.9
Turnout			47,598	76.7	+2.8
Registered electors			62,022
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.9

General election October 1974: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Clark	25,703	57.9	−1.2
	Liberal	D Nunneley	11,514	25.9	−0.8
	Labour	DW Keene	7,203	16.2	+2.0
Majority			14,189	32.0	−0.4
Turnout			44,420	73.9	−8.4
Registered electors			60,090
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.2

General election February 1974: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Clark	28,915	59.1	−5.5
	Liberal	Jean Coleman	13,048	26.7	+7.8
	Labour	Henry Hodge	6,965	14.2	−2.3
Majority			15,867	32.4
Turnout			48,928	82.3	+10.0
Registered electors			59,447
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.7

1970 notional result[21]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	28,500	64.6
	Liberal	8,300	18.8
	Labour	7,300	16.6
Turnout		44,100	72.4
Electorate		60,952

General election 1970: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	25,986	49.74	+5.18
	Labour	David Winnick	22,283	42.65	−2.08
	Liberal	Michael R Lane	3,673	7.03	−3.68
	Independent	C Thornton	303	0.58	New
Majority			3,703	7.09	N/A
Turnout			52,245	71.29	−4.81
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+3.63

Elections in 1960s

General election 1966: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Winnick	21,496	44.73	−2.52
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	21,415	44.56	−8.19
	Liberal	W Edward P Babbs	5,146	10.71	New
Majority			81	0.17	N/A
Turnout			48,057	76.10	+1.83
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.84

General election 1964: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	24,854	52.75	−5.41
	Labour	Tyrell Burgess	22,265	47.25	+5.41
Majority			2,589	5.50	−10.82
Turnout			47,119	74.27	−4.86
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.41

Elections in 1950s

General election 1959: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	29,284	58.16	+1.18
	Labour	Frederic A Messer	22,069	41.84	−1.18
Majority			8,215	16.32	+2.36
Turnout			51,353	79.13	+1.90
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.18

General election 1955: Croydon South^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	27,359	56.98
	Labour	Arthur Carr	20,659	43.02
Majority			6,700	13.96
Turnout			48,018	77.23
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in 1940s

General election 1945: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Rees-Williams	27,650	53.4	+24.4
	Conservative	Herbert Williams	24,147	46.6	−15.7
Majority			3,503	6.8	N/A
Turnout			51,797	70.1	+4.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+20.1

Elections in 1930s

General election 1935: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Williams	31,971	62.3	−18.0
	Labour	T Crawford	14,900	29.0	+9.3
	Liberal	David William Alun Llewellyn	4,440	8.7	New
Majority			17,071	33.3	−27.6
Turnout			45,860	65.2	−3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

1932 Croydon South by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Williams	19,126	67.5	−12.8
	Labour	Rudolph Putnam Messel	9,189	32.5	+12.8
Majority			9,937	35.0	−25.7
Turnout			28,315	38.2	−30.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−12.8

General election 1931: Croydon South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Mitchell-Thomson	40,672	80.34	+31.14
	Labour	T. Crawford	9,950	19.66	−9.52
Majority			30,722	60.69	+40.67
Turnout			50,622	68.33	+0.91
	Conservative hold		Swing	+20.33

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Croydon South ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Mitchell-Thomson	23,258	49.2	−15.4
	Labour	E.W. Wilton	13,793	29.2	−6.2
	Liberal	Albert Sigismund Elwell-Sutton	10,218	21.6	New
Majority			9,465	20.0	−9.2
Turnout			47,269	67.4	−4.6
Registered electors			70,107
	Unionist hold		Swing	−4.6

General election 1924: Croydon South ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Mitchell-Thomson	23,734	64.6	+19.1
	Labour	H.T. Muggeridge	12,979	35.4	+3.8
Majority			10,755	29.2	+15.3
Turnout			36,713	72.0	+8.6
Registered electors			50,964
	Unionist hold		Swing	+7.7

General election 1923: Croydon South ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Mitchell-Thomson	14,310	45.5	−1.8
	Labour	H.T. Muggeridge	9,926	31.6	+4.1
	Liberal	Wynne Cemlyn-Jones	7,208	22.9	−2.3
Majority			4,384	13.9	−5.9
Turnout			31,444	63.4	−3.0
Registered electors			49,634
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.0

General election 1922: Croydon South ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Allan Smith	15,356	47.3	−24.5
	Labour	H.T. Muggeridge	8,942	27.5	−0.7
	Liberal	Thomas Dobson	8,183	25.2	N/A
Majority			6,414	19.8	−23.8
Turnout			32,481	66.4	+11.4
Registered electors			48,904
	Unionist hold		Swing	−11.9

Elections in the 1910s

1919 Croydon South by-election^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Allan Smith	11,777	55.2	−16.6
	Liberal	Howard Houlder	9,573	44.8	New
Majority			2,204	10.4	−33.2
Turnout			21,350	45.5	−9.5
Registered electors			46,900
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1918: Croydon South ^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Ian Malcolm	17,813	71.8
	Labour	H.T. Muggeridge[29]	7,006	28.2
Majority			10,807	43.6
Turnout			24,819	55.0
Registered electors			45,115
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, Croydon South elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.