UK MPs - 2015 Parliament

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Richard Arkless (SNP - Dumfries and Galloway)

One of the more impressive SNP gains.

... though most of the constituency (the Galloway part) elected SNP MPs in October 1974 and 1997.

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Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)

Openly gay and an economist; supports Sheffield Wednesday rather than United.

Followed in the footsteps of David Blunkett in that he was Leader of Sheffield City Council before becoming an MP (five years after Blunkett, in 1992).

His constituency was renamed from Sheffield Attercliffe in 2010, although it still contains Attercliffe (indeed, some areas which might be considered part of Attercliffe were moved back into it from Central); presumably the justification was that Attercliffe was on the fringe of the constituency and not many people live there anyway, but both of those had been the case since at least the 1970s.  Sheffield Attercliffe's political history includes this rather entertaining by-election.

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Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)

Defeated the late Charles Kennedy. Formerly worked in finance.

Member of the Calvinistic Free Church and believes that children should not play outside on the Sabbath.

There is a playground in his constituency with a sign (in an official-looking font) saying "Please do not use this playing field on Sundays".  (Photo here.)

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Nicola Blackwood (Conservative - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Interesting in that she is a socially conservative MP...in Oxford.

Only about a quarter of the electorate is actually in Oxford these days.  Before 2010, when Evan Harris represented it, it contained most of the city centre, including most of the colleges, but that area got moved to Oxford East in 2010, which helps to explain Harris's defeat.

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Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Former NUS man and anti-apartheid activist. Had surgery for a benign brain tumour during the last parliament. Nearly lost to the Lib Dems in 2010 but, as with most of that type of seat, it is safe now.

2010 majority: 165
2015 majority: 17,309

He seems genuinely popular in his constituency from what I can tell, and I've encountered him a couple of times and was pretty impressed.  The number of "Re-elect Paul Blomfield" signs outside big Victorian villas in Broomhill and Nether Edge whose inhabitants 30-40 years ago would have voted Tory (and whose inhabitants 5 years ago may well have voted Lib Dem...) was quite noticeable.  Before becoming an MP, he was a manager of the University of Sheffield's student union.

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There was a clear pattern of voters who would otherwise have voted Tory voting LibDem in some seata where Labour were menacing a LibDem incumbent.

Not so much in Burnley as in some of the others (Bradford East*, Cambridge, Sheffield Hallam, Leeds North West, Hornsey & Wood Green).  Compared with the other Lab gains from Lib Dem (and Hallam and Leeds NW) it had the smallest increase in the Labour share, but of course it is not demographically typical of them.

* Though I suspect the high Tory share there in 2010 was partly biraderi-driven, so the big Tory fall may not be down to tactical voting in the same way as in the others.

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Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)

New intake, nominated Corbyn. This has got to be one of the least swinging seats (between the two main parties) in the country, hasn't it?

Usually elects MPs not afraid to toe the party line (whether Labour or Conservative). Previous MP was the agent of McDonnell in both his leadership runs.

To illustrate PM point, swing since the seats was created in 1983:
1987: 0.3 to Con
1992: 0.0
1997: 7.7 to Lab
2001: 0.1 to Lab
2005: 0.8 to Lab
2010: 2.5 to Con
2015: 1.7 to Lab

1997 majority: 6141
2015 majority: 6057

Its Tory MP from 1983 to 1997, Elizabeth Peacock, was a maverick right-winger of the sort who can become very popular with the electorate.  She also stood again in 2001, and it's clear she had a substantial personal vote: look at the big Tory fall against the trend in 2005, as well as the way she managed to hold what was a very narrow gain in 1983 in both 1987 and 1992.

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Why are Shropshire Tories so awful?