History
The constituency of Gedling was created in 1983, replacing the earlier Carlton constituency. Until 1997, it was thought of as a safe seat for the Conservative Party, being represented by the former Carlton MP Sir Philip Holland until 1987, then by Andrew Mitchell, the son of former Conservative MP David Mitchell. The seat was gained by the Labour Party in their landslide victory at the 1997 general election. In that election, Mitchell (by then a junior minister) lost to Labour's Vernon Coaker, who has held the seat since then.
It is now considered to be a marginal constituency, fought between Labour and the Conservatives. In the 2005 general election, the Conservative candidate Anna Soubry (who was elected MP for nearby Broxtowe at the 2010 general election) caused controversy by revealing that she "was not proud" of the area she was intending to represent, referring to crime levels in the Nottingham area. The subsequent swing from Labour to Conservative was only 2.1% compared with the national swing of 3.1%.
Read more about this topic: Gedling (UK Parliament Constituency)
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