Hartlepool (constituency)
Hartlepool is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons.
Boundaries
The seat is currently coterminous with the borough of Hartlepool, which is about the right population for a constituency.
Westminster elections
The Member of Parliament since a 1992 is Peter Mandelson of the Labour Party. He succeeded Edward Leadbitter, also Labour.
On July 23, 2004, Mandelson was nominated as Britain's new European Commissioner. If the entire newly nominated European Commission is confirmed by the European Parliament (it can only accept or reject the entire team, not individual members), a by-election will be necessary. The by-election will take place on 30th September 2004.
MPs since 1964
Politics and History of the constituency
Hartlepool was enfranchised as a borough constituency by the Reform Act of 1867, being given 1 MP. It had previously been part of a 2-MP electoral division in County Durham.
Hartlepool is a traditionally Labour constituency, though it has attracted surprises at times. In 1992 Edward Leadbitter stood down and was succeed by the former Labour Director of Communications Peter Mandelson. Mandelson's pivotal role in the reshaping of the Labour Party into New Labour has attracted much attention and he has become a prominent target. During the first term of office of the Labour government he was twice appointed to the Cabinet and twice forced to resign amidst controversial scandals. In the 2001 there was a prominent contest when the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers and current leader of the Socialist Labour Party, Arthur Scargill stood, hoping to exploit uneasiness about "New Labour" in the traditional Labour heartlands. In the event Mandelson held his seat, while Scargill polled only 912 votes. Mandelson shocked many with a highly triumphalist victory speech in which he declared "But they underestimated the people of Hartlepool. And they underestimated me, Peter Mandelson, for I AM A FIGHTER AND NOT A QUITTER!"
The following year the town's first direct Mayoral election generated surprise when the mascot of Hartlepool United F.C., H'Angus the monkey, real name Stuart Drummond, was elected on a platform which included free bananas for schoolchildren.
Mandelson's recent appointment as a European Commissioner means that a by-election is pending. Although the seat is considered safe Labour territory, both the victory by an independent in the Mayoral Election and the recent Labour losses in both the Leicester South by-election and the Brent East by-election suggest that nothing can be taken for granted here.
