Glasgow Hillhead (UK Parliament constituency)

Glasgow Hillhead was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Boundaries
1918–1950: "That portion of the city which is bounded by a line commencing at a point in the municipal boundary at its intersection with the centre line of the River Kelvin, thence southeastward, southward and southwestward along the centre line of the River Kelvin to the centre line of the North British Railway (Stobcross Branch), thence north-westward along the centre of the said North British Railway to its intersection with the municipal boundary, thence northeastward along the municipal boundary to the point of commencement".

1950–1955: The Kelvinside and Partick (West) wards of the county of the city of Glasgow, and part of the Partick (East) ward.

1955–1974: The Kelvinside and Partick West wards of the county of the city of Glasgow, and part of the Whiteinch ward.

1974–1983: The Glasgow wards of Kelvinside, Partick West, and Whiteinch.

1983–1997: The City of Glasgow District electoral divisions of Kelvindale/Kelvinside, Partick/Anderston, and Scotstoun/Broomhill.

History
Along with Glasgow Cathcart, Hillhead was one of two safe Conservative Party seats in Glasgow for several decades. However, Labour reduced the Conservatives' majorities in both constituencies in the 1970s; Labour even won Cathcart in 1979 (making it the only seat the Conservative Party lost in its electoral victory that year), while Hillhead remained Conservative with a narrow majority. In the subsequent by-election of 1982, the Conservatives lost their last seat in Glasgow not to Labour, but to the year-old SDP, with the former Labour cabinet minister Roy Jenkins becoming the new MP for the constituency. Jenkins retained the seat for the SDP in the 1983 general election, but lost the seat to George Galloway of the Labour Party in 1987.

Elections in the 1930s

 * endorsed by constituency party but not by borough party

Elections in the 1980s
The constituency's boundaries were significantly altered for the 1983 general election and it was estimated by the BBC and ITN that on the new boundaries Labour would have captured the seat with a majority of just over 2,000 votes in 1979, thus making this a notional SDP gain from Labour. Neil Carmichael was the sitting Labour MP for the Glasgow Kelvingrove constituency which had been abolished for this election.