Tottenham is one of two parliamentary constituencies in the London Borough of Haringey. Almost half of Haringey's council wards come from Tottenham - these include: Bruce Grove, Harringay, Northumberland Park, Seven Sisters, St. Ann's, Tottenham Green, Tottenham Hale, West Green and White Hart Lane. Over 40% of residents here are non-white; there are large African, West Indian, Greek-Cypriot, and Turkish communities that are well established. Unemployment is above the national average, so too is crime.

Tottenham suffered heavy bombing during the War and many Georgian and Victorian buildings were hit and were replaced by new, less attractive housing. The local football team, Tottenham Hotspur, is world famous and Tottenham was once the home to Sir Roland Hill (the founder of the Penny Stamp) who resided in Bruce Castle House (now Museum) as pictured above.

Tottenham is ideal for first time property-buyers and has excellent transport links: Seven Sisters in just three stops north of London's King's Cross and both London Liverpool Street and Stanstead Airport can be easily reached - within fifteen minutes - from Tottenham Hale. Buses run throughout the night to and from the West End.

Up until 1945, Tottenham had two constituencies – both were in Conservative hands! The seat has since been regarded as 'safe' Labour although Alan Brown, a Labour MP, defected to the Conservatives in the late fifties and remained the constituency's MP until the following election (five years) when Labour's Norman Atkinson defeated him. Haringey Council was dubbed a 'loony left' council in the eighties when it elected left-wing firebrand Bernie Grant as its leader. Grant went on to describe the killing of a policeman (during the Broad Water Farm riot) as a "bloody good hiding for the police". Grant led the campaign to get Atkinson, a moderate, deselected and himself selected. Labour's majority was slashed to just under 4,000 in the 1987 general election and Grant became the new MP until he died in winter of 2000 after a long illness. Grant's widow, Sharon, also a left-winger, tried unsuccessfully to follow in her husband's footsteps and was 'blocked' by Millbank (Labour's HQ) in favour of David Lammy, a young Harvard-educated barrister, seen as a 'Blairite' by the Labour hierarchy and No.10.

The Conservative had half-a-dozen councillors throughout the eighties (West Green and White Hart Lane) and the last remaining councillor lost his seat in the Labour local government landslide in May 1994. There has, however, been a remarkable revival for the Conservatives in Tottenham. At the last council elections (May '02), the Tories polled 37.5% in White Hart Lane and 25% in Harringay Ward. In several other wards, the Tories moved from fifth to second position and are now the main challengers to the Labour Party. At a recent by-election in Tottenham Hale (January 2003, see Election Results) the Conservative candidate polled almost 30% of the vote and there was an eleven per cent swing away from Labour - the LibDems were, as ever, a distant third.