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Election results: How the Accountancy Party did

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7th May 2015
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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

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Replies (1)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
08th May 2015 11:10

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.

Thanks (1)