Hertfordshire South West
Conservative hold

The safest of the six Conservative seats in Hertfordshire, South West is based on the very middle class and affluent towns of Berkhamsted, Tring, Rickmansworth and Chorleywood, where some of the highest non-manual worker figures not only in the county but in the country have been recorded in recent Census years. Even here, though, with scarcely any local wards except those in the LCC overspill estate of South Oxhey near Watford, Labour finished second in 1997. In that General Election, they were in the first two in every one of the eleven seats in Hertfordshire; back in 1983 they had been third everywhere, including in the five seats they currently hold. That demonstrated the depths of the hole they had sunk into, just as the transformation illustrates the renaissance inspired and enabled by New Labour.

Richard Page, born 1941 and educated at Hurstpierpoint and Luton Tech, and one of the late Julian Critchley's 'garagistes' as the owner of a car dealership, has been MP here since 1979, having previously snatched the Labour stronghold of Workington in a byelection in 1976. Self-designated as a mere "spear-carrier in the great Conservative Party", he has been oft-described as leading a political life of blameless obscurity. A champion of small businesses, he was briefly a DTI minister at the fag-end of the Major government, and was eventually made a DTI spokesman by Hague, whom he backed in the 1997 leadership ballots, despite his own more pro-European record.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 42.93% 14.99% 286.35 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 1.57% 2.49% 63.06 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 2.67% 4.43% 60.41 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 8.88% 7.27% 122.11 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 3.39% 2.56% 132.23 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 3.03% 2.04% 148.66 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.00% 3.94% 0.00 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 16.84% 13.04% 129.17 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 1.98% 12.70% 15.57 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 10.92% 8.14% 134.09 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.97% 4.02% 24.03 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.41% 3.19% 75.53 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 3.80% 11.31% 33.64 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.57% 3.06% 18.51 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.00% 2.52% 0.00 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.03% 0.06% 54.22

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 4.17% 9.41% 44.29 £5-10K 9.09% 16.63% 54.66 £10-15K 11.38% 16.58% 68.62 £15-20K 11.41% 13.58% 83.98 £20-25K 10.37% 10.39% 99.80 £25-30K 8.98% 7.77% 115.53 £30-35K 7.58% 5.79% 130.83 £35-40K 6.30% 4.33% 145.48 £40-45K 5.20% 3.27% 159.36 £45-50K 4.28% 2.48% 172.40 £50-55K 3.51% 1.90% 184.55 £55-60K 2.89% 1.47% 195.84 £60-65K 2.37% 1.15% 206.27 £65-70K 1.96% 0.91% 215.89 £70-75K 1.62% 0.72% 224.74 £75-80K 1.34% 0.57% 232.87 £80-85K 1.11% 0.46% 240.31 £85-90K 0.93% 0.37% 247.13 £90-95K 0.77% 0.31% 253.37 £95-100K 0.65% 0.25% 259.07 £100K + 3.80% 1.34% 282.61