Richmond Park (UK Parliament constituency)

Richmond Park
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Richmond Park in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	77,071
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Created from	Richmond and Barnes and Kingston upon Thames
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Richmond Park is a parliamentary constituency which has been represented in the House of Commons by Sarah Olney of the Liberal Democrats since a December 2016 by-election.

Richmond Park constituency was created in 1997 from Richmond and Barnes and a northern tranche of the Kingston upon Thames seat.Jeremy Hanley, MP for Richmond and Barnes, was selected as the Conservative candidate for the seat's first election but lost to Jenny Tonge (Liberal Democrat). The seat was held by the Liberal Democrats until 2010, when it was gained by Zac Goldsmith, a Conservative.

On 25 October 2016, Zac Goldsmith announced his resignation as the seat's MP in protest against the Conservative government's decision to allow a third runway to be built at Heathrow Airport. Goldsmith stood as a Independent candidate in the by-election held on 1 December and the Conservative Party decided not to put forward its own candidate. This was the first by-election in the constituency since its creation in 1997.

He was appointed to be the Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds on 26 October, formally vacating his seat.

1997–2010: The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames wards of Barnes; East Sheen; Ham and Petersham; Kew; Mortlake; Palewell; Richmond Hill; and Richmond Town, and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames wards of Cambridge; Canbury; Coombe Hill; and Tudor.