Tonbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Tunbridge (UK Parliament constituency).

Tonbridge is a parliamentary constituency in Kent, centred on the town of Tonbridge. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is currently held by Conservative Tom Tugendhat, who was MP for the predecessor seat of Tonbridge and Malling from 2015 to 2024.

Tonbridge
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Tonbridge in South East England
Electorate	73,692 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Tonbridge, Edenbridge, Borough Green, Hildenborough
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Tom Tugendhat (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Tonbridge and Malling Sevenoaks (minor part) Dartford (minor part)
1918–Feb 1974
Seats	One
Created from	Tunbridge
Replaced by	Tonbridge and Malling

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, replacing the previous Tunbridge constituency. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was replaced by the new Tonbridge and Malling constituency.

Following the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established and was first contested in the 2024 general election, formed primarily from the previous and largely overlapping constituency of Tonbridge and Malling.^[2]

Boundaries

Historic

1918–1950: The Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells, the Urban Districts of Tonbridge and Southborough, and Tonbridge Rural District.

1950–1974: As 1918 but with redrawn boundaries.

Current

The re-established constituency id defined as being composed of the following as they existed on 1 December 2020:

• The District of Sevenoaks wards of: Ash and New Ash Green; Cowden and Hever; Edenbridge North and East; Edenbridge South and West; Hartley and Hodsoll Street; Leigh and Chiddingstone Causeway; Penshurst, Fordcombe and Chiddingstone.
• The Borough of Tonbridge and Malling wards of: Borough Green and Long Mill; Cage Green; Castle; Downs and Mereworth; Hadlow and East Peckham; Higham; Hildenborough; Judd; Medway; Trench; Vauxhall; Wateringbury; Wrotham, Ightham and Stansted.^[3]

Following a local government boundary review in Tonbridge and Malling which came into effect in May 2023,^[4][5] the constituency is now composed of the following from the 2024 general election:

• The District of Sevenoaks wards of: Ash and New Ash Green; Cowden and Hever; Edenbridge North and East; Edenbridge South and West; Hartley and Hodsoll Street; Leigh and Chiddingstone Causeway; Penshurst, Fordcombe and Chiddingstone.
• The Borough of Tonbridge and Malling wards of: Birling, Leybourne & Ryarsh (part); Borough Green & Platt; Bourne; Cage Green & Angel; East and West Peckham, Mereworth & Wateringbury; East Malling, West Malling & Offham (small part); Higham; Hildenborough; Judd; Pilgrims with Ightham; Trench; Vauxhall.^[6]

The reformed constituency comprises the bulk of the preceding Tonbridge and Malling seat (excluding East and West Malling), plus an additional two District of Sevenoaks wards to the north - Ash and New Ash Green, and Hartley and Hodsoll Street, from the constituencies of Sevenoaks and Dartford respectively.^[6]

Constituency profile

The seat includes the commuter town of Tonbridge and its hinterland to the north, plus the smaller town of Edenbridge further west. Electoral Calculus characterises this area as "Strong Right", with right-wing economic and social views, high home ownership levels and strong support for Brexit.^[7]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1974

Tunbridge prior to 1918

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Herbert Spender-Clay	Conservative	Died 1937
	1937 by-election	Sir Adrian Baillie, Bt	Conservative
	1945	Gerald Williams	Conservative	Resigned 1956
	1956 by-election	Richard Hornby	Conservative
Feb 1974		constituency abolished

MPs since 2024

Tonbridge and Malling prior to 2024

Election		Member	Party
	2024	Tom Tugendhat	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Tonbridge^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tom Tugendhat	20,517	40.8	−24.0
	Labour	Lewis Bailey	9,351	18.6	+3.5
	Green	Anna Cope	7,596	15.1	+7.2
	Reform UK	Teresa Hansford	7,548	15.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	John Woollcombe	4,234	8.4	−3.9
	Ind. Alliance	Tim Shaw	926	1.8	N/A
	SDP	Ian Grattidge	156	0.3	N/A
Majority			11,166	22.2	−27.5
Turnout			50,328	68.3	−5.6
Registered electors			72,799
	Conservative hold		Swing	−13.8

2019 notional result[9]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	35,262	64.8
	Labour	8,210	15.1
	Liberal Democrats	6,690	12.3
	Green	4,288	7.9
Turnout		54,450	73.9
Electorate		73,692

Election results 1918–1974

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Tonbridge^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Herbert Spender-Clay	14,622	68.1
	Labour	John Palmer	5,006	23.3
	Liberal	Thomas Buxton	1,851	8.6
Majority			9,616	44.8
Turnout			21,479	57.4
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Tonbridge^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Spender-Clay	14,797	53.0	−15.1
	Labour	Joseph Thomas Davies	7,665	27.4	+4.1
	Liberal	Albert Charles Crane	5,472	19.6	+11.0
Majority			7,132	25.6	−19.2
Turnout			27,934	72.5	+15.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Tonbridge ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Spender-Clay	13,910	49.8	−3.2
	Liberal	Albert Charles Crane	7,433	26.6	+7.0
	Labour	Joseph Thomas Davis	6,610	23.6	−3.8
Majority			6,477	23.2	−2.4
Turnout			27,953	70.6	−1.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	-5.1

General election 1924: Tonbridge^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Spender-Clay	17,392	58.2	+8.4
	Labour	W F Toynbee	6,564	22.0	−1.6
	Liberal	James Millard Tucker	5,898	19.8	−6.8
Majority			10,828	36.2	+13.0
Turnout			29,854	74.3	+3.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Tonbridge^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Spender-Clay	19,018	49.8	−8.4
	Liberal	Gordon Alchin	10,025	26.2	+6.4
	Labour	W F Toynbee	9,149	24.0	+2.0
Majority			8,993	23.6	−12.6
Turnout			38,192	72.3	−2.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.4

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Tonbridge^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Spender-Clay	30,602	78.8	+29.0
	Labour	Constance Borrett	8,208	21.1	−2.9
Majority			22,394	57.7	+34.1
Turnout			38,810	69.2	−3.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Tonbridge^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Herbert Spender-Clay	23,460	61.3	−17.5
	Labour	F M Landau	9,405	24.6	+3.5
	Liberal	Richard Pope-Hennessy	5,403	14.1	New
Majority			14,055	36.7	−21.0
Turnout			38,268	68.2	−1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

1937 Tonbridge by-election^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Adrian Baillie	18,802	56.9	−4.4
	Labour	H Smith	8,147	24.7	+0.1
	Liberal	Richard Matthews	6,073	18.4	+4.3
Majority			10,655	32.2	−4.5
Turnout			33,022	58.2	−10.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.2

General Election 1939–40:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Adrian Baillie
• Labour: R. E. L. Bowyer^[18]
• Liberal: Richard Matthews^[19]
• British Union: E J Crawford

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Tonbridge^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Williams	23,081	49.9	−7.0
	Labour	Vera Dart	16,590	35.8	+11.1
	Liberal	John Metcalfe	5,351	11.6	−6.8
	Ind. Conservative	E F St John Lyburn	1,249	2.7	New
Majority			6,491	14.1	−18.1
Turnout			46,271	73.2	+15.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Tonbridge^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Williams	27,893	51.9
	Labour	Brian Clapham	19,525	36.3
	Liberal	Leslie Albert Willard	5,634	10.5
	Ind. Conservative	E F St. John Lyburn	739	1.4
Majority			8,368	15.6
Turnout			53,791	83.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Tonbridge^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Williams	31,377	59.8	+7.9
	Labour	Bernard Bagnari	21,109	40.2	+3.9
Majority			10,268	19.6	+4.0
Turnout			52,486	80.6	−2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Tonbridge^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gerald Williams	29,521	60.4	+0.6
	Labour	Robert L Fagg	19,325	39.6	−0.6
Majority			10,196	20.8	+1.2
Turnout			48,846	75.5	−5.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

1956 Tonbridge by-election^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hornby	20,515	52.0	−8.4
	Labour	Robert L Fagg	18,913	48.0	+8.4
Majority			1,602	4.0	−16.8
Turnout			39,428
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Tonbridge^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hornby	31,687	59.9	−0.5
	Labour	Kenneth W May	21,181	40.1	+0.5
Majority			10,506	19.8	−1.0
Turnout			52,868	78.5	+3.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Tonbridge^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hornby	27,802	49.2	−10.7
	Labour	Donald Savage	19,037	33.7	−6.4
	Liberal	Edward Babbs	9,682	17.1	New
Majority			8,765	15.5	−4.3
Turnout			56,521	78.7	+0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Tonbridge^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hornby	26,896	46.7	−2.5
	Labour	William Eric Wolff	20,068	34.9	+1.2
	Liberal	Colin Bloy	10,586	18.4	+1.3
Majority			6,828	11.8	−3.7
Turnout			57,550	77.3	−1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Tonbridge^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hornby	31,890	53.2	+4.5
	Labour	Maureen Colquhoun	17,897	29.9	−5.0
	Liberal	Harry Hill	10,167	17.0	−1.4
Majority			13,993	23.3	+11.5
Turnout			59,954	72.0	−5.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Kent
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)