Beckenham
Formerborough constituency for theHouse of Commons
Boundary of Beckenham in Greater London for the 2010 general election
County	Greater London
Population	87,011 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	66,470 (December 2010)[2]
Borough	London Borough of Bromley
1950–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Bromley andOrpington
Replaced by	Beckenham and Penge Bromley and Biggin Hill

Beckenham (/ˈbɛkənəm/) was aconstituency^{[n 1]} inGreater London represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament from2010 until its abolition for the2024 general election byBob Stewart, a member of theConservative Party.^{[n 2]}

Under the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the majority of the constituency was incorporated into the new constituency ofBeckenham and Penge.^[3]

The constituency is mostly leafy and suburban — one widely known gazetteer summarised this in 2012:

"The properties on these streets typically include a range of styles, from modern toMock Tudor. However many local residents are wealthy city commuters. Keston Common and Keston Ponds are both popular attractions for locals...The common theme is large, detached houses with substantial land and typically with asking prices of over £1 million. At the lower end of the market, a one bedroom period conversion flat on Turpington Lane near Bromley Common, or a one bedroom flat in a modern block on Homesdale Road, near the Bickley border, would demand an asking price of approximately £160,000."^[4]

There are significant areas of open land to the south around Hayes and Keston. The upmarket town centre of Beckenham is split between this constituency andLewisham West and Penge to the west.

All wards have voted between 60 and 70%Conservative since the seat's inception. In times whenLabour has led in the national polls the seat has remained Conservative. The smallest majority in a general election was 9.3%, in 1997; in all other elections except 2001 there have been majorities of more than 15%. The seat happened to become safer in its cut down to six wards (from ten) in 2010. This removed the three most Labour inclined wards of the borough, centered on Penge, and one other, taken from the more suburban parts that lean strongly or weakly Conservative.

Since 1983 there has been a close contest for second place between Labour and theLiberal Democrats. Labour's share has remained much greater than inOrpington whereas the Liberal Democrat share has remained much greater than inCroydon Central.^{[n 3]}

The constituency had only elected Conservatives as its MPs since 1950.

The constituency shared boundaries with theBeckenham electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.

The closest the Conservatives have ever come to losing this seat was ata by-election in November 1997, at the height ofTony Blair's 'honeymoon period' as Prime Minister, following the resignation of the previous MPPiers Merchant in a sex scandal. Even then, the former MP for Hastings who lost her seat in the earlier 1997 general election,Jacqui Lait, managed to win the seat by just over 1,000 votes.

Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham wasSir Philip Goodhart, who was soon after 1979 discovered byMargaret Thatcher to be a right-of-centre or 'wet conservative' and consequently his career as a junior minister came to a quick end. Goodhart is best known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee, and for his brother Charles, who was a famous economics professor atLSE and sat for some time on theBank of England's monetary policy committee.

Before Sir Philip Goodhart, the former ConservativeChief Whip Patrick Buchan-Hepburn represented Beckenham in Parliament.

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

Dates	Local authority	Maps	Wards
1950–1974	Municipal Borough of Beckenham Penge Urban District (before 1965) London Borough of Bromley (after 1965)		The Municipal Borough of Beckenham, and the Urban District of Penge.
1974–1983	London Borough of Bromley		Anerley,Clock House, Copers Cope,Eden Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Manor House,Penge andShortlands.[5]
1983–1997			Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge and Shortlands.
1997–2010			Anerley, Clock House, Copers Cope, Eden Park, Kelsey Park, Lawrie Park and Kent House, Penge, Shortlands, West Wickham North and West Wickham South.
2010–2024			Bromley Common and Keston, Copers Cope,Hayes and Coney Hall, Kelsey and Eden Park, Shortlands and West Wickham.

Despite the changes in ward names, the 1974–1983 boundaries and the 1983–1997 boundaries are almost exactly the same boundaries. Similarly, despite the changes in local authorities and the listing of wards, the 1950–1974 boundaries and the 1997–2010 boundaries are almost exactly the same.

Beckenham constituency covers the northwestern part of theLondon Borough of Bromley. The local government ward boundaries were redrawn for the2002 local elections, though this did not affect parliamentary limits until the 2010 general election.

Following their review of parliamentary representation inSouth London, theBoundary Commission for England made revisions to this seat. Clock House ward,Crystal Palace ward, and Penge and Cator ward were transferred from Beckenham to help create the new constituency ofLewisham West and Penge. Parts of Bromley Common and Keston,Hayes and Coney Hall, and Shortlands wards were transferred to Beckenham fromBromley and Chislehurst. A small part of Bromley Common and Keston ward was transferred to Beckenham fromOrpington and a tiny part of Bromley Town ward was transferred from Beckenham to Bromley and Chislehurst.

Under the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency underwent major boundary changes, with eastern areas, comprising theBromley Common andKeston, andHayes and Coney Hall wards, being transferred to the new constituency ofBromley and Biggin Hill. To compensate, "Penge" (comprising the Clock House,Crystal Palace, and Penge and Cator wards) was transferred back from the now abolished seat ofLewisham West and Penge. Accordingly, the seat was renamedBeckenham and Penge, first contested at the2024 general election.^[3] With the new boundary changes it was notionally a marginal seat but was won byLiam Conlon for Labour with a majority of 12,905.

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London

• Politics Resources (election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (election results from 1955 onwards)
• Beckenham UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) atMapIt UK
• Beckenham UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) atMapIt UK

51°23′20″N0°01′12″W / 51.389°N 0.02°W /51.389; -0.02

• Politics of the London Borough of Bromley
• Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic)
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2024

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• Wikipedia articles incorporating an LRPP-MP template with two unnamed parameters
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension