Stephen Hammond Narrowly Retains Wimbledon Seat
Liberal Democrats a few hundred votes short of victory
The constituency of Wimbledon has been won for the Conservatives by Stephen Hammond (pictured above) by just a few hundred votes.
Mr Hammond gained 20,373 votes for a majority of 638 when the result was declared early this Friday (13 December). It was a fall from the 5,622 majority he won in June 2017.
This time the Lib Dems had an improved performance with the result of Paul Kohler (below) after the Green Party withdrew their candidate as part of the nationwide Unite to Remain electoral pact. Mr Kohler beat the Labour candidate into third place.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Hammond | Conservative | 20,373 |
38.4 |
| Paul Kohler | Liberal Democrats | 19,745 |
37.2 |
| Jackie Schnieder | Labour | 12,543 |
23.7 |
| Graham Hadley | Independent | 366 |
0.7 |
| Total | 68,232 |
||
| Turnout | 77.7 |
Paul Kohler was elected as a Merton Councillor last year. Last year he took the Mayor of London to court to save Wimbledon Police station from closure after he survived a brutal beating in 2014. The initial court case was successful, but he now wants to see the station remain open for good.
Turnout was 77.7% compared with 77.3% in 2017, when Mr Hammond received 23,946 votes (46%) compared with the 18,324 (26%) of Labour's Imran Uddin and 7,472 (15%) of Carl Quillam from the Lib Dems.
Jackie Schneider, a primary school teacher, was standing for the Labour Party. She said she was passionate about education and affordable housing.
In 1997 the Conservatives lost the constituency to Labour for the first time in nearly 50 years. Labour retained the seat in 2001, but the Conservatives won it back in 2005 when Mr Hammond became MP.
Mr Hammond was one of 21 Conservatives who lost the whip in September after voting against the government on a key Brexit vote. He briefly sat as an Independent but was let back into the Conservative Party on 20 October.
In the Wimbledon constituency, 70.6% of voters voted in favour of remaining in the EU.
Siobhain McDonagh took the Mitcham and Morden constituency for Labour with 61% of the 45,845 votes.
December 13, 2019