Cardiff South East (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950–1983

Cardiff South East

Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Seats| one
Created from| Cardiff Central, Cardiff East and Cardiff South
Replaced by| Cardiff South & Penarth, Cardiff Central and Cardiff West[1]

Cardiff South East was a parliamentary constituency in Cardiff, Wales. It returned one member of parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election and abolished before the 1983 general election. Its only MP was Labour's James Callaghan, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, while still serving as the seat's MP. Its equivalent today is Cardiff South and Penarth.

## Boundaries

[edit]

1950–1974: The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Roath, South, and Splott, and the Urban District of Penarth.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Grangetown, Roath, Rumney, South, and Splott.

## Members of Parliament

[edit]

Election | Member | Party

|
|

| 1950 | James Callaghan | Labour

## Election results

[edit]

### Elections in the 1950s

[edit]

General election 1950: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 26,254  | 51.8  |
| Conservative | J John Hayward  | 20,359  | 40.2  |
| Liberal | Patrick Furnell | 4,080  | 8.1  |
Majority | 5,895  | 11.6  |
Turnout | 50,693  | 83.3  |
| Labour win (new seat)
General election 1951: Cardiff South East[2] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 28,112  | 54.35  | +2.56
| Conservative | Harry West  | 23,613  | 45.65  | +5.49
Majority | 4,499  | 8.70  | −2.93
Turnout | 51,725  | 84.93  | +1.60
| Labour hold | Swing | −1.46  |
General election 1955: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 25,722  | 53.36  | −0.99
| Conservative | Michael Roberts | 22,482  | 46.64  | +0.99
Majority | 3,240  | 6.72  | −1.98
Turnout | 48,204  | 79.33  | −4.60
| Labour hold | Swing | −0.99  |
General election 1959: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 26,915  | 50.8  | −2.6
| Conservative | Michael Roberts | 26,047  | 49.2  | +2.6
Majority | 868  | 1.6  | −5.1
Turnout | 52,962  | 82.0  | +2.7
| Labour hold | Swing | −2.6  |

### Elections in the 1960s

[edit]

General election 1964: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 30,129  | 57.48  | +6.66
| Conservative | Ted Dexter | 22,288  | 42.52  | −6.66
Majority | 7,841  | 14.96  | +13.32
Turnout | 52,417  | 79.87  | −2.13
| Labour hold | Swing | +6.76  |
General election 1966: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 29,313  | 56.8  | −0.7
| Conservative | Norman Lloyd-Edwards | 18,476  | 35.8  | −6.7
| Liberal | George W Parsons  | 3,829  | 7.4  | New
Majority | 10,837  | 21.0  | +6.0
Turnout | 51,618  | 78.9  | −1.0
| Labour hold | Swing | +3.0  |

### Elections in the 1970s

[edit]

General election 1970: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 26,226  | 51.9  | −4.9
| Conservative | Norman Lloyd-Edwards | 20,771  | 41.1  | +5.3
| Plaid Cymru | Richard Davies  | 2,585  | 5.1  | New
| National Front | George W. Parsons  | 982  | 1.9  | New
Majority | 5,455  | 10.8  | −9.8
Turnout | 50,562  | 73.2  | −5.7
| Labour hold | Swing | −5.1  |
General election February 1974: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 20,641  | 49.0  | −6.1
| Conservative | Stefan Terlezki | 13,495  | 32.0  | −6.9
| Independent Liberal | Christopher Bailey  | 3,800  | 9.0  | New
| Liberal | B. Christon  | 2,978  | 7.1  | New
| Plaid Cymru | Keith Bush  | 1,254  | 3.0  | −2.1
Majority | 7,146  | 17.0  | +0.8
Turnout | 42,168  | 74.3  | +1.1
| Labour hold | Swing | +0.5  |
General election October 1974: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 21,074  | 52.0  | +3.0
| Conservative | Stefan Terlezki | 10,356  | 25.6  | −6.4
| Liberal | Christopher Bailey  | 8,006  | 19.8  | +12.7
| Plaid Cymru | Keith Bush  | 983  | 2.4  | −0.6
| Marxist-Leninist (England) | B.C.D. Harris  | 75  | 0.2  | New
Majority | 10,718  | 26.4  | +9.4
Turnout | 40,494  | 70.7  | −3.6
| Labour hold | Swing | +4.7  |
General election 1979: Cardiff South East  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Labour | James Callaghan | 23,871  | 59.3  | +7.3
| Conservative | Ivor Samuel Jones  | 15,170  | 37.7  | +12.1
| Plaid Cymru | Eric Randolf Roberts  | 628  | 1.6  | −0.8
| Severnside Libertarian  | Raymond William Aldridge  | 375  | 0.9  | New
| Socialist Unity | Pat Arrowsmith | 132  | 0.3  | New
| Communist | Richard Horatio Spencer  | 112  | 0.3  | New
Majority | 8,701  | 21.6  | −4.8
Turnout | 40,288  | 71.6  | +0.9
| Labour hold | Swing | −2.4  |

Note: The official Liberal candidate for Cardiff South East in 1979, Christopher Bailey, deliberately failed to submit his nomination papers in time and advised Liberal voters to vote Conservative. He was subsequently expelled from the Liberal Party.

This election was remembered for when Pat Arrowsmith heckled Callaghan throughout the election declaration. During the customary victory speech, Callaghan continued to be interrupted throughout and Callaghan remarked it was the first time he had 'conducted a duet' whilst giving a victory speech. When Arrowsmith refused to desist, Callaghan and the other candidates left the stage. Arrowsmith (who had been arrested in Cardiff the day before the election) made a short statement about Northern Ireland. These scenes were broadcast live on BBC Election 79.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "'Cardiff South East', February 1974 – May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
2. ^ The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.

## External links

[edit]

* Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

Barnet

|  Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer
1964–1967  | Succeeded by

Birmingham Stechford

Preceded by

Huyton

|  Constituency represented by the prime minister
1976–1979  | Succeeded by

Finchley

Preceded by

Finchley

|  Constituency represented by the leader of the opposition
1979–1980  | Succeeded by

Ebbw Vale

* v
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Cardiff constituencies

Current UK|

* Cardiff East
* Cardiff North
* Cardiff South and Penarth
* Cardiff West

Current Senedd|

* Cardiff Central
* Cardiff North
* Cardiff South and Penarth
* Cardiff West

Historic UK|

* Cardiff (1542–1918)
* Cardiff Central (1918–1950)
* Cardiff Central (1983–2024)
* Cardiff East (1918–1950)
* Cardiff South (1918–1950)
* Llandaff and Barry (1918–1950)
* Cardiff South East (1950–1983)
* Cardiff North West (1974–1983)

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