Lewisham, Deptford
Labour hold

All three Lewisham seats remained very strongly in the hands of the Labour Party in the 1998 London Borough elections. Deptford is the true inner city seat of the three, situated on the south bank of the river east of the borough of Southwark and just a Deptford tunnel crossing away from Tower Hamlets in the heart of the East End. Well under half of the housing is owner occupied, even though it stretches away from the river through New Cross to Ladywell, Brockley and Honor Oak Park; and almost a third classed themselves as non-white in the 1991 Census, including one of the highest percentages anywhere in the country of "black Afro-Caribbean". Small wonder that Joan Ruddock polled over 70pc of the total for Labour.

Joan Ruddock, one of Blair’s dropped ministers, spent a year as ‘Minister for Women’. Born 1943 and educated at Pontypool Grammar School for Girls and Imperial College London, her political career was assisted by her friendship with the Kinnocks and her leadership of CND - a past she has recently tended to airbrush (“that was then and now is now”) in favour of a new interest in environmental degradation and organic farming. A neat, carefully presented woman, she shares her life with Frank Doran, Labour MP for Aberdeen Central, another discarded leftwing frontbencher, though in his case with one foot still on the ladder as a PPS.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 0.00% 14.99% 0.00 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.00% 2.49% 0.00 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.00% 4.43% 0.00 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 0.22% 7.27% 3.08 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 2.99% 2.56% 116.69 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 15.55% 2.04% 762.01 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 21.99% 3.94% 557.51 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 0.15% 13.04% 1.13 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 0.71% 12.70% 5.59 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 0.00% 8.14% 0.00 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 25.13% 4.02% 624.81 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 0.00% 3.19% 0.00 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 0.00% 11.31% 0.00 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 6.03% 3.06% 197.07 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.00% 2.52% 0.00 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 27.22% 2.10% 1,296.39 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 7.60% 9.41% 80.71 £5-10K 14.19% 16.63% 85.34 £10-15K 15.27% 16.58% 92.08 £15-20K 13.38% 13.58% 98.50 £20-25K 10.81% 10.39% 104.02 £25-30K 8.44% 7.77% 108.60 £30-35K 6.51% 5.79% 112.33 £35-40K 5.00% 4.33% 115.35 £40-45K 3.85% 3.27% 117.79 £45-50K 2.97% 2.48% 119.76 £50-55K 2.31% 1.90% 121.35 £55-60K 1.81% 1.47% 122.65 £60-65K 1.42% 1.15% 123.71 £65-70K 1.13% 0.91% 124.57 £70-75K 0.90% 0.72% 125.29 £75-80K 0.72% 0.57% 125.88 £80-85K 0.58% 0.46% 126.38 £85-90K 0.47% 0.37% 126.79 £90-95K 0.39% 0.31% 127.14 £95-100K 0.32% 0.25% 127.44 £100K + 1.73% 1.34% 128.52