Portsmouth West (UK Parliament constituency)

Portsmouth West
Portsmouth West
Former borough constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Portsmouth West in Hampshire for the 1955 general election
County	Hampshire
1950–1974
Seats	One
Created from	Portsmouth North (Bulk); Portsmouth Central (Part)
Replaced by	Portsmouth North (Bulk); Portsmouth South (Part)

Portsmouth West was a borough constituency in the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Dates	Local authority	Maps	Wards
1950–1955	County Borough of Portsmouth		Buckland, Charles Dickens, Fratton, Guildhall, Nelson, North End, Portsea, and St Mary.
1955–1974	County Borough of Portsmouth		Buckland, Fratton, Nelson, North End, Portsea, and St Mary and Guildhall.

The constituency was formed from the abolished constituencies of Portsmouth North and Portsmouth Central

Wards renamed

After the Second periodic review of Westminster constituencies, Buckland and Fratton wards were transferred to Portsmouth South, while the bulk of the seat was combined with parts of Portsmouth Langstone to form the re-established constituency of Portsmouth North.

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1950	Terence Clarke	Conservative
	1966	Frank Judd	Labour	Contested Portsmouth North following redistribution
Feb 1974		constituency abolished: see Portsmouth North and Portsmouth South

General election 1970: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Judd	17,169	50.6	–1.1
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	16,214	47.7	–0.6
	Independent	LB Gauntlett	579	1.7	New
Majority			955	2.8	–0.6
Turnout			33,962	72.3	–4.2
Registered electors			46,972
	Labour hold		Swing	–0.3

General election 1966: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Judd	18,685	51.7	+2.4
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	17,458	48.3	–2.4
Majority			1,227	3.4	N/A
Turnout			36,143	76.5	+1.7
Registered electors			47,247
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.4

General election 1964: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	18,762	50.7	–7.0
	Labour	Frank Judd	18,265	49.3	+7.0
Majority			497	1.3	–14.0
Turnout			37,027	74.8	–2.2
Registered electors			49,517
	Conservative hold		Swing	–7.0

General election 1959: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	23,600	57.7	+3.5
	Labour	Maxwell Bresler	17,334	42.3	–3.5
Majority			6,266	15.3	+6.9
Turnout			40,934	76.9	+3.5
Registered electors			53,206
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.5

General election 1955: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	23,729	54.2	+2.9
	Labour	Alma Birk	20,060	45.8	–2.9
Majority			3,669	8.4	+5.9
Turnout			43,789	77.4	–6.1
Registered electors			56,597
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.9

General election 1951: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	25,363	51.3	+0.6
	Labour	Alma Birk	24,115	48.7	–0.0
Majority			1,248	2.5	+0.6
Turnout			49,478	83.5	+0.0
Registered electors			59,262
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

General election 1950: Portsmouth West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Terence Clarke	24,924	50.7
	Labour	Donald Bruce	23,979	48.8
	Communist	G Swanton	251	0.5
Majority			945	1.9
Turnout			49,154	83.5
Registered electors			58,892
	Conservative win (new seat)

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Craig, Fred W. S (1983). British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 (2nd ed.). Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0900178078. Retrieved 5 April 2025.