History
The constituency was first formed in 1974 and took its present boundaries in 1997. Since its formation the constituency has only elected Labour MP's. It was first represented by Peter Snape from 1974 to 2001 and he was succeeded by the current MP Tom Watson. It is now generally considered to be a safe seat for the Labour Party, who won the seat with large majorities in the 1990s and 2000's, although this was not the case in the 1980s when the Conservative Party came close to winning the seat.
Read more about this topic: West Bromwich East (UK Parliament Constituency)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized—the question involuntarily arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)