The three-way electoral battle at Wimbledon | El Diario Vasco

On the eve of the vote, Labour say they are not encouraging their voters to vote Liberal Democrat to oust the Conservatives in the Wimbledon constituency. The Lib Dems also deny they will vote for the Labour candidate. Tactical voting could throw up surprises in this election.

The history of the Wimbledon constituency dates back to the end of the 19th century and, with the exception of two Labour victories – in 1945 after the Second World War and Tony Blair’s victory in 1997 – the residents of this aggregation of neighbourhoods in the south of Greater London have sent a Tory candidate to Parliament.

The borough of Wimbledon has its share of affluent areas. The lawn tennis championship organised by the distinguished All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club has spread the name around the world, but in reality the club has its famous courts in a neighbouring borough, Merton, which forms part of another constituency with Morden, Merton & Morden, which votes Labour.

The last Conservative MP to represent Wimbledon was Stephen Hammond, whose most senior government post in two decades as an MP was as health secretary for nine months, in the revolutionary days of Theresa May’s overthrow and Boris Johnson’s glorious rise.

Hammond was, like 70% of his constituency, in favour of remaining in the European Union. He was purged by Johnson and his Rasputin, Dominic Cummings, along with the other Conservative MPs who backed a bill in October 2019 that would prevent the government from leaving the EU without first reaching an agreement.

Twenty were suspended and a month later ten, including Hammond, returned to the group to serve Johnson, who needed them to call elections. It would be his great triumph, in December 2019. Hammond is not a rebel. He used more chauffeur-driven limousines than anyone else during his brief stint as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Transport.

In the December 2019 election, Stephen Hammond’s vote share fell by eight points and he held on to his seat by 628 points over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Paul Kholer, who is running again this year. Hammond has already announced that he will not stand in this election, joining a flight of Conservatives who have left politics.

Early in the morning, a woman is preparing propaganda blocks. Wimbledon Labour have angered the Lib-Dems by renting space in a disused pharmacy next to their election headquarters for their campaign, but the woman is in an upbeat morning mood.

“It has been a fantastic campaign, with 300 volunteers wanting to work for the candidate, Eleanor Stringer.” She grew up in South Wimbledon and now has a family of her own. She has worked for a charity focused on education, which is her personal occupation and a focus of her campaign.

The Labour volunteer admits that “people are fed up, not just with the Tories but with politicians in general.” “There are a lot of people who are alienated, who feel marginalised,” she concludes. The most deprived area of ​​the constituency is a piece taken from Morden so that the electoral map preserves the figure of about 75,000 voters per seat.

There is a mosque there that is said to be the largest in Europe. The security guard says that the community leader has told them to vote for “the person who is best and not because he belongs to a party.” It is perhaps difficult to separate this. He then says that among Ahmadi Muslims it is common to vote for Labour, “because they help people.”

The employee in the Liberal Democrat candidate’s office is convinced that they will overtake Labour, who have a much smaller presence in the City Hall. He believes, however, that the Conservative vote will hold. “Reform (Nigel Farage’s party) has no say here,” he says. It does not take votes away from the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrat describes them as “Cameronians” – wealthy supporters of former Prime Minister David Cameron, who were saddened, like him, that the Conservatives’ internal crisis ended with their departure from the European Union.

Near the Wimbledon courts, a Tory woman takes pity. “Did you have to follow the campaign? It was so boring!” She was disappointed by Penny Mordaunt, the perennial candidate for the Tory leadership, because of her Thatcher-esque hairdo. But she was entertained by the battle between her and Angela Rayner. The most important thing in these British breeds is not to get bored.