WITNEY (UK PARLIAMENT CONSTITUENCY)

'Witney' is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency is represented by Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

Contents

Boundaries

History

Members of Parliament

Elections

See also

Boundaries

The constituency covers the West Oxfordshire district in Oxfordshire, including the town of Witney itself, as well as Burford, Carterton, Chipping Norton, Minster Lovell and Eynsham. It also contains the villages of Shipton on Cherwell and Yarnton from the Cherwell district.
Following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, at the next general election the constituency boundaries will be changed to match those of West Oxfordshire exactly, and the parts of Cherwell district will be covered by the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.

History

The constituency was created in 1983, from parts of the Banbury and Mid Oxfordshire constituencies. It is a safe seat for the Conservative Party. Its first MP was the former Oxon Mid MP Douglas Hurd, who served as a cabinet minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and stood down in 1997.
Hurd was succeeded by Shaun Woodward at the 1997 general election. However, Woodward defected to the Labour Party in January 2000, and Witney unexpectedly had a Labour MP. Woodward was deemed unlikely to be re-elected in Witney as a Labour candidate, and moved to contest the Labour safe seat of St Helens South instead. At the 2001 general election, David Cameron was elected as MP for Witney and has held the seat since then. He has been the leader of the Conservative Party since December 2005.

Members of Parliament

★ ''Constituency created'' (1983)

★ 1983 — 1997: Douglas Hurd, Conservative

★ 1997 — 2001: Shaun Woodward, Conservative until January 2000, then Labour

★ 2001 — ''present'': David Cameron, Conservative

Elections

See also

★ List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire