Talk:List of United Kingdom MPs by seniority (2010–2015)

Wow, this is fantastic! Many thanks for creating it.

Bringing in the new list
While I appreciate that a huge amount of work goes into producing a list such as this, I do feel that I must express some reservations about bringing in a new list, while at the same time keeping this old one.

Given the current title of this article, as well as the existence of a red link in the 'United Kingdom general election, 2015' template, I am rather expecting there to be an attempt to create a new article, mirroring this one, for the new Parliament.

Now, of course, I am not advocating a situation where there is no new list while this one remains. The issue that I am raising is whether we go ahead with separate articles for the new list and for the old list.

I do sense that the relevance of an outdated list to this encyclopaedia is questionable.

Would it not be better just to replace the list on this article with the new list? The article could be renamed to 'List of current United Kingdom MPs by seniority'.

This would seem to be more in line with existing Wikipedia policy. For example, we have a 'List of current world boxing champions' which is constantly being updated. We do not have a host of articles for a 'List of world boxing champions at any one specific point in time'.

With regards to the case here, I am also concerned that keeping historic lists of MPs by seniority could be troublesome. I can see them doing one of two things. Either they will reflect the situation at the very start of a Parliament, or they will reflect the situation at dissolution (which can change after by-elections). Both could be the right thing to do, but I don't see a way of deciding which one.

Finally, I should point out one more thing. If we do decide to press ahead with separate articles for the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth Parliaments, then we kind of should really create articles for every Parliament before, as well. Red v  Blue  16:59, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

David Davis
The article says that "The criteria for seniority, used in this article, are derived from the way that the Father of the House is selected." Since 1898 the Father of the House has always been the member with the longest continuous service. (Richard Kelly, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper No. 06399, 2016.)

David Davis's acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds and subsequent re-election in 2008 should not be regarded as a break in service. Firstly, all MPs vacate their seats every time Parliament is dissolved, and if re-elected their service is treated as continuous. There is no reason why re-election at by-elections should be treated differently to re-election at general elections. Secondly, the list of Fathers of the House on page 194 of British Political Facts 1900–2000 (used as a source in the Commons Library briefing paper already linked) lists Sir Michael Hicks Beach as having continuous service of 41 years six months (1864–1906), though he was re-elected at by-elections in 1888 and 1895, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman with 39 years six months (1868–1908), though he was re-elected at by-elections in 1884, 1886 and 1892. These re-elections were evidently not considered to be breaks in service when Beach and Bannerman were chosen as Fathers of the House.

If the criteria for seniority in this list are the same as for Fathers of the House, then Davis's seniority should date from when he was first elected in 1987. Opera hat (talk) 14:52, 8 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Ditto for Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless. Opera hat (talk) 15:41, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

"List of United Kingdom MPs by seniority, 2010-" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect List of United Kingdom MPs by seniority, 2010-. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Steel1943 (talk) 15:32, 19 August 2019 (UTC)