Saffron Walden is a parliamentary constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. It elects one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

New constituency boundaries which took effect at the 2010 general election removed the area around Halstead in Braintree district

Braintree (district)

Braintree is a local government district in the English county of Essex. Its main town is Braintree.The main centres of population are Braintree, Witham and Halstead....

 and replaced it with the northern wards of the borough of Chelmsford

Chelmsford (borough)

Chelmsford is a local government district and borough in Essex, England. It is named after its main settlement, Chelmsford, which is also the county town of Essex.-History:...

.

Constituency profile

The constituency is by far the largest and most rural in Essex, and covers the entire north-west corner of the county - an area of almost 400 square miles (1,036 km²). It borders Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, whilst also extending deep into the middle of Essex near Chelmsford.

There are three medium-sized towns within the constituency: Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...

, Dunmow

Great Dunmow

Great Dunmow is an ancient market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England in which the great Shannon Gray, also known as Hazzah Potter, lives...

, and Halstead

Halstead

Halstead is a town and civil parish located in Braintree District of Essex, England, near Colchester and Sudbury. It has a population of 11,053. The town is situated in the Colne Valley, and originally developed on the hill to the north of the river...

. All three have historic links, and are still regarded as some of the finest, most quintessential market towns in England. Elsewhere much of the area is rural farmland, prosperous, comfortable, and overwhelmingly Conservative-supporting.

The largest single source of employment in the constituency is Stansted Airport, while there are also a host of small businesses, many of them high-tech, along the London-Cambridge corridor.

Members of Parliament

Since a by-election in 1977, this safe Conservative seat has been represented by Sir Alan Haselhurst. It was also held for many years by former Chancellor of the Exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

 Rab Butler

Rab Butler

Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...

.

Election		Member	Party
	1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 -Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...	Herbert Gardner Herbert Gardner, 1st Baron Burghclere Herbert Colstoun Gardner, 1st Baron Burghclere PC was a British Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 until he was raised to the peerage in 1895...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1895 United Kingdom general election, 1895 The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...	Charles Gold	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1900 United Kingdom general election, 1900 -Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...	Armine Wodehouse Armine Wodehouse (MP) Armine Wodehouse CB , was a British civil servant and Liberal politician.Wodehouse was a younger son of Foreign Secretary John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, and his wife Lady Florence, daughter of Richard FitzGibbon, 3rd Earl of Clare...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1901 by-election Saffron Walden by-election, 1901 The Saffron Walden by-election, 1901 was a by-election held on 31 May 1901 for the British House of Commons constituency of Saffron Walden in Essex.-Vacancy:...	Joseph Pease	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	Jan 1910	Douglas Proby Douglas Proby Douglas James Proby DL, JP , known as Douglas Hamilton until 1904, was a British politician and soldier.-Background:...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
	Dec 1910	Sir Cecil Beck Cecil Beck Sir Arthur Cecil Tyrrell Beck was a British Liberal Party politician.Beck was educated at Haileybury and the University of Cambridge....	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1922 United Kingdom general election, 1922 The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...	Sir William Foot Mitchell William Foot Mitchell William Foot Mitchell was a Conservative Party politician in England.He was elected to the House of Commons at the January 1910 general election as Member of Parliament for Dartford, beating the sitting Liberal-Labour MP James Rowlands...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
	1929 United Kingdom general election, 1929 -Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...	Rab Butler Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
	1965 by-election	Sir Peter Kirk Peter Kirk Peter Kirk may refer to:* Peter Kirk , British-born American mill-owner, founder of the City of Kirkland, Washington, USA* Sir Peter Michael Kirk , British Conservative MP and government minister...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
	1977 by-election Saffron Walden by-election, 1977 The Saffron Walden by-election of July 1977 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Sir Peter Kirk on 16 April that year. The Conservatives held on to the seat in the by-election.-Results:-External links:**...	Sir Alan Haselhurst Alan Haselhurst Sir Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst is a British Conservative politician who is the Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden and was Chairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010.-Early life, education and career:...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s