Election 2017: the lawyer MPs at risk of losing their seats

Only two years on from the last general election, Britain faces another vote and Parliament’s healthy crop of lawyer MPs face another battle for their seats.

Wolverhampton South West’s MP, Rob Marris, is the lawyer with the narrowest majority at the moment. A former trade union solicitor, he was initially elected in 2001, then lost his seat in 2010 before winning it back in 2015 by a margin of just 801 votes. He’s now in for another fight against Conservative opposition.

The Liberal Democrats’ sole Scottish MP, Alastair Carmichael, is also in danger, having won by just 817 votes in 2015.

At the other end of the spectrum, a lawyer with one of the safest seats is barrister Shabana Mahmood. The MP for Birmingham Ladywood, she enjoys a majority of 21,868 (60.9 per cent).

The lawyers with the narrowest majorities

Seat	Name	Party	Barrister/solicitor	First elected	Majority
Wolverhampton SW	Rob Marris	Lab	Solicitor	2015	801 (2%)
Orkney and Shetland	Alastair Carmichael	Lib Dem	Solicitor	2001	817 (3.6%)
Kingston & Surbiton	James Berry	Con	Barrister	2015	2,834 (4.8%)
Carlisle	John Stevenson	Con	Solicitor	2010	2,774 (6.5%)
Northampton North	Michael Ellis	Con	Barrister	2010	3,245 (8.2%)
Norfolk North	Norman Lamb	Lib Dem	Solicitor	2001	4,043 (8.2%)
Stockton South	James Wharton	Con	Solicitor	2010	5,046 (9.7%)
Hammersmith	Andy Slaughter	Lab	Barrister	2005	3,549 (7.5%)