Jews and electoral politics in the United Kingdom: a contemporary note

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to draw attention to certain features of the London mayoral election of 4 May 2008 and the United Kingdom parliamentary election of 6 May 2010 and their outcomes insofar as these relate to and reflect upon the UK’s Jewish population. Jews — however defined — comprise less than one per cent of the population of the UK and of its electorate. However this minute population is heavily concentrated in the Greater London and Greater Manchester conurbations. Indeed, well over half of the UK’s Jews are to be found in Greater London. These distinctive residential concentrations mean that Jewish voters have, historically, been able to exert an influence disproportionate to their mere number.