Wokingham parliamentary constituency has always been a Conservative seat – could Dr Phillip Lee win for the Liberal Democrats?
Wokingham parliamentary constituency has always been a Conservative seat – could Dr Phillip Lee win for the Liberal Democrats?
The seat was created in 1950, and has only had three incumbents: Peter Remnant, who gave way to Sir William van Straubenzee in 1959, and then Sir John Redwood in 1987.
It was also a popular seat for the Monster Raving Loonies: its candidate, Peter “Top Cat Bananaman” Owen, contested the seat at every election between 1992 and 2010.
There have also been a mixture of independents standing over the years.
The biggest challenge from this was local businessman Mark Ashwell, who stood in 2010 and scooped 2,340 votes.
He said at the time: “You can only be the President of the United States for two terms, but [John Redwood] has been here for 20 years and we are going to have him for another four years and it is not right.”
The Lib Dems (and formerly Liberal Party) have been the second party in the borough at the General Election all the way through until 2017, when Labour’s Andy Croy almost doubled his vote on 2015.
And Times columnist Matthew Syed stood as Labour’s candidate in 2001.
Having Dr Lee as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Wokingham creates an unpredictable battleground in the forthcoming General Election, which is likely to happen in November or the New Year.
The seat is one that polling by ComRes suggests could switch to the Lib Dems.
A projection suggests that the party would have a 37% vote share, compared to 33% for the Conservatives and 14% for Labour.
However, it also lists the Brexit party as 9% – the party is unlikely to field a candidate in Wokingham constituency as Sir John Redwood is a committed Leaver.
The Green party polls with 7% of the vote according to the figures compiled on September 19.
