The least secure of the swathe of the five South West London seats won by the Lib Dems in 1997, Kingston and Surbiton was won by Edward Davey with a majority of only 56 votes.
Despite the slenderness of Ed Davey’s majority, this was a very surprising result. The former Conservative MP, Richard Tracey, had a notional majority of almost 15,000 in 1992, and his share of the vote dropped by 16.5 per cent - well above the national average for the Conservatives.
Kingston Town Centre has developed as a shopping and entertainment centre with the new Bentalls and John Lewis shopping centres. There is a large Further Education College in Kingston and Kingston University (renowned for its architecture and design courses). The constituency also contains Kingston Grammar School.
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