Dagenham was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. It elected one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was replaced at the 2010 general election by the new Dagenham and Rainham

Dagenham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 constituency.

Boundaries

Dagenham covers the area of Dagenham

Dagenham

Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...

, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 1,937; and the area was characterised by farming, woodland and the fishing fleet at Barking. This last industry employed 1,370 men and boys by 1850, but by the end of the century had ceased to exist; replaced by...

.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

, the Boundary Commission for England have created a new constituency of Dagenham and Rainham

Dagenham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

.

History

Before 1945, the Dagenham area was part of the Romford constituency

Romford (UK Parliament constituency)

Romford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

. The MP for the latter seat since 1935, Labour's John Parker, continued to represent the Dagenham seat until 1983. Parker was the last serving MP to have been elected before the Second World War, and with 48 years in Parliament, remains the longest-serving Labour MP in history.

Dagenham has been held by Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 since World War II and is considered a safe seat. The far-right British National Party

British National Party

The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

 is very active in this area and its support has been steadily rising. It is home to a declining skilled manual industry such as the Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 works, which downscaled production in 2001.

The British National Party received nearly 10% of the vote in the 2005 general election and in the 2006 local elections returned 12 councillors to Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council

Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council

Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Barking and Dagenham is divided into 17 wards, each electing three...

.

As of 2009 the new constituency of Dagenham & Rainham includes wards which have not traditionally supported the BNP or Labour, and the leaks of BNP databases has shown that membership in the area shown is diminishing.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...	John Parker John Parker (UK politician) Herbert John Harvey Parker , normally known as John Parker, was a long-serving British Labour politician....	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...	Bryan Gould Bryan Gould Bryan Charles Gould, CNZM is a former United Kingdom politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1974–79, and again from 1983–94...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	1994 by-election Dagenham by-election, 1994 The Dagenham by-election, in Dagenham, on 9 June 1994 was held after Labour Member of Parliament Bryan Gould resigned the seat. A safe Labour seat, it was won by Judith Church, who would go on to retain the seat in 1997.-Candidates:...	Judith Church Judith Church Judith Church is a politician in the United Kingdom.She was the Labour member of Parliament for Dagenham since winning the seat in 1994 at a by-election, and stood down at the 2001 election.-Early life:...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	2001 United Kingdom general election, 2001 The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...	Jon Cruddas Jon Cruddas Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham. He was first elected in 2001 to the seat of Dagenham....	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	2010	constituency abolished: see Dagenham and Rainham Dagenham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency) Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s