Our History

The Association came into being following the redistribution of Parliamentary constituencies in 1948. Before that, the area was covered by three constituencies: Abbey, St. George's, and the City of London. The Abbey Division and the St. George's Division were each represented by one MP and the City of London by two.

Sir Harold Webbe, who had represented the old Abbey Division from 1938, was elected as the first MP for the new constituency in 1950 and continued to represent it until 1959, when he stood down and Sir Harry Hylton-Foster succeeded him. Sir Harry was elected Speaker in October 1959 and served as both Member and Speaker until his death in 1965.

He was succeeded as Member by John Smith, who was elected at the ensuing bye-election and continued to represent the constituency until 1970. He then decided not to seek re-election and Christopher Tugendhat was elected, retaining his seat in 1974.

In 1976, Mr Tugendhat was appointed a European Commissioner and Peter Brooke was elected at the bye-election in February 1977.

At the General Elections in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992 and 1997 Peter Brooke was re-elected to Parliament; at the 1983 election the constituency was extended to include the Hyde Park, Bryanston, Baker Street, and Cavendish wards of the City of Westminster, and at the 1997 General Election Bayswater and Lancaster Gate were included.

Peter Brooke was a member of the last Conservative Government for most of its term of office, serving as a Whip, in the Department of Education & Science, at the Treasury, as Paymaster-General, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Secretary of State for National Heritage. He was the Chairman of the Conservative Party between 1987 and 1989. He became a Life Peer in 2001 and served on the Party Board.

Mark Field, who was elected as our MP in 2001, was born in 1964, was educated at Reading School and took a degree in law at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1987. He initially practised as a solicitor before establishing a publishing and recruitment business in the City.

Mark has served as an Opposition Whip and, successively, as Shadow Minister for London, Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Minister for Culture and the Arts. He is currently Secretary of the All-Party British-German Parliamentary Group and the All-Party Group on Venture Capital & Private.

Mark Field will again stand in the forthcoming 2010 General Election as Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency.