History
The seat came about from the merger of the constituencies of Honiton and Tiverton in 1997. Both were long-established seats, with the former having existed from 1640 and the latter from 1615. Both elected two Members of Parliament until the 1884 Reform Act reduced the number for both to one and their area was widened to cover two divisions of the county under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.
- Political History
In the early 19th century the seats, respectively, featured prominent Whig politicians Joseph Locke, a railway pioneer and Viscount (i.e. Lord) Palmerston, the Prime Minister who served in government for almost 58 years and was twice in that role, termed by historians, a Liberal interventionist.
The seat can be regarded as a safe Conservative seat, if including either of its predecessors, the area served by the constituency has not been represented by another party in Westminster since 1923.
Read more about this topic: Tiverton And Honiton (UK Parliament Constituency)
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