Westbury
Conservative hold

This is a misnamed seat if ever there was one, for Westbury is smaller than other towns in the seat such as Trowbridge, which is also the county town and administrative HQ of Wiltshire, and Warminster with its army camps and historic market centre, and there is also the picturesque Bradford-on-Avon and a strip of villages from Holt in the north to Mere in the south near the Dorset border. Logically it should surely be called West Wiltshire, which would offend none of the constituent parts, and which is already the name of the local council. That authority is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, but the Westbury parliamentary division is still fairly safely Conservative. This disparity is explicable by two factors: the election of councillors in the midterm of governments, usually unpopular Conservative administrations in recent decades, and also the tendency for voters to consider LDs more suitable for local politics but unlikely either to form a national government or to be effective therein. Harold Macmillan's grandson David Faber is giving up as MP for Westbury even though he is not yet 40 years of age. This is not because he has reason to fear defeat here.

Dr Andrew Murrison, a Fareham-based Royal Navy doctor for 15 years, was selected here in place of the unusually early retiring scion of the Macmillan-Cavendish dynasty, David Faber. With a personable open manner characteristic of the Senior Service, he was born 1961 and educated at Harwich High School, Dartmouth and (on a Navy scholarship) at Bristol University Medical School and later at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. A Bow Grouper and former assistant to the Clarke-supporting Sir Peter Lloyd, MP for Fareham, his selection for this safe seat without a previous general election candidacy would not have been unassisted by his work at Central Office as assistant to the candidate-screener-in-chief, Lord Freeman.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 25.73% 14.99% 171.61 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 3.58% 2.13% 168.29 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 3.02% 2.49% 121.54 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 4.40% 4.43% 99.44 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 10.18% 7.27% 139.96 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.23% 2.56% 8.95 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.07% 2.04% 3.30 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.37% 3.94% 9.34 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 23.54% 13.04% 180.51 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 7.97% 12.70% 62.72 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 10.37% 8.14% 127.32 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 2.09% 4.02% 51.86 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.21% 3.19% 69.51 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 5.24% 11.31% 46.35 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.05% 3.06% 1.64 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.96% 2.52% 38.05 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 8.28% 9.41% 87.98 £5-10K 16.09% 16.63% 96.72 £10-15K 17.04% 16.58% 102.77 £15-20K 14.36% 13.58% 105.68 £20-25K 11.05% 10.39% 106.30 £25-30K 8.20% 7.77% 105.49 £30-35K 6.02% 5.79% 103.87 £35-40K 4.41% 4.33% 101.82 £40-45K 3.25% 3.27% 99.58 £45-50K 2.42% 2.48% 97.30 £50-55K 1.81% 1.90% 95.05 £55-60K 1.37% 1.47% 92.89 £60-65K 1.05% 1.15% 90.82 £65-70K 0.81% 0.91% 88.85 £70-75K 0.63% 0.72% 87.00 £75-80K 0.49% 0.57% 85.25 £80-85K 0.39% 0.46% 83.61 £85-90K 0.31% 0.37% 82.06 £90-95K 0.25% 0.31% 80.60 £95-100K 0.20% 0.25% 79.22 £100K + 0.97% 1.34% 71.98