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The censuses of 2001 and 2011 show the overwhelmingly most common housing type of the area to be semi-detached houses – almost a majority – followed by mid-rise apartments (whether purpose-built or converted from older houses), then terraced houses and then detached houses. They also show a consistently lower-than-average proportion of social housing than for Greater London.[2]
The constituency is served by three separate commuter railway lines running into central London, and has many parks and sports grounds. Few arterial roads bisect Harrow East – further east is the start of the M1 motorway, and in the middle of seats further south in north-west London are the A40 Western Avenue and North Circular Road, omitting the boundaries drawn from the arterial road-building projects of the 1940s-to-1970s period.
The seat was created in 1945 and has been varied due to two sets of major ward reconfigurations and by other national boundary reforms. The predecessor seats were Hendon and to a much lesser extent Harrow.
From 1945 to 2010, it was a stronger area for the Labour Party than neighbouring Harrow West; nevertheless, the seat had been mostly held by the Conservative Party. Labour did win here in landslide victories in 1945, 1966 and 1997, and after the latter, held on in the two subsequent general elections. Commencing with the 1979 general election, and prior to the 2024 general election, the seat was a bellwether by reflecting the national result. The 2017 result produced the 29th-most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 317 seats by percentage of majority.[3]
The seat was regained in 2010 by the Conservative Bob Blackman on a high turnout whilst Labour's incumbent managed to hold on to Harrow West, as boundary changes had favoured Labour there. Residents in the borough include fewer people in the category of no qualifications than the national average, in 2011, at 16.8%.[4]
Harrow East has a large Hindu population, a demographic which has shifted heavily away from Labour towards the Conservatives during Blackman's tenure as MP thanks to Blackman's courting of the Hindu nationalist vote.[5] The Conservatives generally perform worse than Labour amongst most ethnic minority groups;[6] it was the most ethnically diverse Conservative-held constituency in the general elections of 2015 and 2017.
In the 2024 general election, Harrow East had the second-largest percentage majority of any Conservative-held seat in the country, behind only Richmond and Northallerton, the seat of then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak; it was the only seat in the country where the Conservatives exceeded 50% of the vote.
1945–1950: The Urban District of Harrow wards of Kenton, Stanmore North, Stanmore South, Wealdstone North, Wealdstone South, and part of Harrow Weald ward.
1950–1955: As above, but the whole of Harrow Weald, and without Wealdstone North or Wealdstone South.
1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Harrow wards of Belmont, Harrow Weald, Queensbury, Stanmore North and Stanmore South.
1974–1978: The London Borough of Harrow wards of Belmont, Harrow Weald, Queensbury, Stanmore North and Stanmore South.
1978–1983: The London Borough of Harrow wards of Canons, Centenary, Harrow Weald, Kenton East, Stanmore Park, Stanmore South and Wemborough.
1983–2010: The London Borough of Harrow wards of Canons, Centenary, Greenhill, Harrow Weald, Kenton East, Kenton West, Marlborough, Stanmore Park, Stanmore South, Wealdstone and Wemborough.
2010–2024: The London Borough of Harrow wards of Belmont, Canons, Edgware, Harrow Weald, Kenton East, Kenton West, Queensbury, Stanmore Park and Wealdstone.
2024–present: The London Borough of Brent ward of Queensbury, and he London Borough of Harrow wards of Belmont, Canons, Centenary, Edgware, Harrow Weald, Kenton East, Kenton West, and Stanmore.[7]
The Borough of Brent ward of Queensbury was transferred from the abolished constituency of Brent North, thus uniting the parts of the suburb of Queensbury in Brent with those in Harrow. Other boundary changes included the transfer of Wealdstone to Harrow West.
With 53.3% of the vote, Blackman received the highest vote share for any Conservative candidate that stood in the election, and was the only Conservative elected with an absolute majority.[9] He was one of three Conservative MPs to be re-elected with an increased majorities.[10]
