For those who stayed up late, it was a night of surprise as the Conservatives came through more strongly than expected to achieve power in their own right at the 2015 general election.
The biggest shock came at 10pm with a BBC exit poll predicting a near majority of 316 seats for the Tories, accompanied by an SNP sweep north of the border and the loss of more than half the Lib-Dem seats.
As the early results started coming in, the indications were that the exit poll was a well judged forecast. In the end, it proved to be on the cautious side, as the Tories cruised to 330 seats.
Huge swings removed some high powered Liberal Democrat ministers including Treasury secretary Danny Alexander, business secretary Vince Cable and pensions minister Stephen Webb. A couple of accountancy’s Lib-Dem representatives were also caught by the backlash: Michael Moore in Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk, and tax adviser Stephen Williams, who lost Bristol West back to Labour.
But to emphasise the level of disappointment for Labour’s showing, shadow chancellor Ed Balls was ousted by the Tories from his Morley & Outwood seat.
After trawling through candidate lists, AccountingWEB identified 45 members of the profession who also wanted to become members of Parliament - down roughly 10% on the last election. In contrast to the Lib-Dems, however, accountant candidates enjoyed a 16.9% average increase in their share of the vote of fared in the 2015 election.
In spite of the pre-election suspense, it looks like there will be no need for a coalition. But the 18 Accountancy Party representatives - two more than last time - looks like an influential block.
There are a number of gaps at the Cabinet table that Lib-Dem MPs held in the previous government. As things have panned out, keep an eye out for Elizabeth Truss, Karen Bradley, Therese Coffey and Peter Bone in dispatches about ministerial positions. And will Nick Gibb, one of the profession’s longest-standing MPs, have a chance of regaining a position of influence?
Ofsettting the loss of two Lib-Dem accountant-MPs, Westminster will be welcoming two new representatives of the profession from north of the border, both of whom had the SNP surge behind them: Owen Thomson in Midlothian and Marion Fellowes in Motherwell & Wishaw.
All the accountancy candidates we could find are listed below, in alphabetical order of their constituency name. You can find more details about accountancy’s representatives in the 2015 general election in a companion article.
The last Accountancy Party result to be announced was one of its three overall gains, as Anne-Marie Trevelyan won the border town for the Tories from the Lib-Dems at the second attempt. Nigel Mills, of Candy-Crush fame, pulled off a similar coup in Amber Valley in 2010 and survived his tabloid controversy to return to Westminster for a second time.
Here is a summary of the all the candidates’ results:
Conservative held
Justine Greening, Putney
Nick Gibb, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton
Mark Harper, Forest of Dean
Kit Malthouse, Hampshire North West
Alok Sharma, Reading West
Karen Lumley, Redditch
Elizabeth Truss, Norfolk South West
Jeremy Lefroy, Stafford
Karen Bradley, Staffordshire Moorlands
Therese Coffey, Suffolk Coastal
David Mowatt, Warrington South
Peter Bone, Wellingborough
Craig Mackinlay, Thanet South (new MP taking over safe seat)
Conservative gain
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Labour held
Teresa Pearce, Erity & Thamesmead
Ian Wright, Hartlepool
Lib-Dem loss
Michael Moore, Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk
Stephen Williams, Bristol West
SNP win
Owen Thomson, Midlothian
Marion Fellowes, Motherwell & Wishaw
Candidate |
Constituency |
Party |
2015 |
Vote |
% |
Nigel Mills |
Amber Valley |
Con |
1 |
20106 |
44.0 |
Mahmud Henry Rogers |
Bedford |
LD |
4 |
1958 |
4.0 |
Saqhib Ali |
Bedfordshire North East |
Lab |
2 |
9247 |
15.8 |
Anne-Marie Trevelyan |
Berwick-upon-Tweed |
Con |
1 |
16603 |
41.1 |
Michael Moore |
Berwickshire Roxburgh & Selkirk |
LD |
3 |
10294 |
18.7 |
Nick Gibb |
Bognor Regis |
Con |
1 |
24087 |
51.4 |
Peter Bedford |
Bolsover |
Con |
2 |
10764 |
-0.4 |
Joe Bourke |
Brentford & Isleworth |
LD |
6 |
2305 |
-84.4 |
Meirion Jenkins |
Bridgend |
Con |
2 |
12697 |
67.7 |
Stephen Williams CTA |
Bristol West |
LD |
3 |
12103 |
-60.1 |
Tom Ebbutt |
Bromsgrove |
Lab |
2 |
11604 |
22.2 |
Ian Jackson |
Cannock Chase |
LD |
4 |
1270 |
2.7 |
Bruce Roberts |
Clwyd South |
LD |
5 |
1348 |
3.8 |
James Symes |
Ealing Southall |
Con |
2 |
2987 |
21.7 |
Teresa Pearce |
Erith & Thamesmead |
Lab |
1 |
21209 |
49.8 |
Mark Harper |
Forest of Dean |
Con |
1 |
23191 |
46.8 |
Richard Robinson |
Hampshire East |
LD |
3 |
5732 |
11.1 |
Iain Wright |
Hartlepool |
Lab |
1 |
16267 |
35.6 |
Steve Sollit |
Havant |
LD |
4 |
2929 |
6.5 |
Satnam Kaur Khalsa |
Hayes & Harlington |
LD |
4 |
888 |
2.0 |
Michael Taylor |
Hazel Grove |
Lab |
3 |
7584 |
17.5 |
Alex Feakes |
Lewisham West & Penge |
LD |
5 |
3709 |
7.7 |
Charles Dundas |
Livingstone |
LD |
3 |
5316 |
11.1 |
Owen Thomson |
Midlothian |
SNP |
1 |
23018 |
43.8 |
Marion Fellowes |
Motherwell & Wishaw |
SNP |
1 |
27275 |
56.5 |
Kit Malthouse |
North West Hampshire |
Con |
1 |
32052 |
58.1 |
Justine Greening |
Putney |
Con |
1 |
23018 |
53.8 |
Alok Sharma |
Reading West |
Con |
1 |
23082 |
47.7 |
Karen Lumley |
Redditch |
Con |
1 |
20771 |
47.1 |
Jane Berney |
Saffron Walden |
Lab |
3 |
5288 |
9.7 |
Waqas Ali Khan |
Shipley |
UKIP |
3 |
4479 |
8.9 |
David Oakensen |
Somerton & Frome |
Lab |
5 |
4419 |
7.3 |
Ian Luder |
South Basildon & East Thurrock |
UKIP |
2 |
12097 |
26.5 |
Barry Mahoney |
South Leicestershire |
UKIP |
3 |
9363 |
17.4 |
Tom Davies |
South West Devon |
LD |
4 |
3767 |
7.5 |
Elizabeth Truss |
South West Norfolk |
Con |
1 |
23753 |
48.3 |
Jack Easton |
St Albans |
Green |
5 |
2034 |
3.7 |
Jeremy Lefroy |
Stafford |
Con |
1 |
22047 |
43.9 |
Karen Bradley |
Staffordshire Moorlands |
Con |
1 |
19793 |
45.2 |
Kim Caddy |
Streatham |
Con |
2 |
12540 |
25.1 |
Therese Coffey |
Suffolk Coastal |
Con |
1 |
28855 |
51.9 |
Craig Mackinlay |
Thanet South |
Con |
1 |
18848 | 38.13 |
Michael Cox |
Uxbridge & South Ruislip |
LD |
4 |
2215 |
4.9 |
David Mowat |
Warrington South |
Con |
1 |
25928 |
43.7 |
Peter Bone |
Wellingborough |
Con |
1 |
26265 |
52.1 |
Andy Croy |
Wokingham |
Lab |
2 |
8123 |
14.5 |
More Election 2015 coverage on AccountingWEB.co.uk
- Accountancy Party - Detailed 2015 election results spreadsheet (Google ID required)
- The Accountancy Party: meet the profession's candidates
- Live Election blog: follow our live feed and add your own thoughts
- General Election 2015 coverage tracks the main debates and announcements
- Pre-election polls - how did the actual results compare to AccountingWEB members' intentions?
- Election and politics discussion group
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John Stokdyk sadly passed away in June 2023. He had been with the site since 1999, rising from news editor to editor in chief, global editor and head of insight. As a roving editor, he investigated the profession's use of technology around the world. He devoted his spare time to technology history and an oddball collection of stringed...
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Ignorance
With all these Tory accountant MPs, I'm surprised that we need the likes of Jo Swinson airing her ignorance on the subject of accountancy.