Much of this seat is 1930s suburbia, although both Sutton and Cheam have their own distinctive identity. It lies 13 miles from central London, nestling on the edge of the North Downs, boasting the greatest tree cover in London.
Cheam is rather more affluent than Sutton, and has more than its fair share of history: today there remains an historic Tudor house, Whitehall, which is a Grade II listed building. Yards outside the constituency is the site of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace, and his influence remains in some road names today eg Anne Boleyn’s Walk.
Fans of Tony Hancock who come to Cheam to find the address 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, are disappointed to discover that it was, in fact, entirely fictitious.
Unlike the neighbouring seats which were won by the Lib Dems in 1997, Sutton was no stranger to having a Lib Dem MP. In 1972, Graham Tope (formerly Sutton council Leader, now a peer and GLA member) won a famous by-election victory, only to lose in 1974.
This general election sees the incumbent Lib Dem MP and former deputy council leader, Paul Burstow, face the Conservative Lady Olga Maitland (MP 1992-1997) for the third time.
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