History
A Conservative seat for many years, Worcester was represented by the high-profile Conservative cabinet minister Peter Walker for three decades, from a by-election in 1961 until he stood down in 1992. Peter Luff (also Conservative) held the seat until 1997, when he moved to the redrawn Mid Worcestershire constituency.
Michael Foster of the Labour Party took the seat in the 1997 general election. This can be put down to a combination of Labour's landslide victory nationally, but also to the fact that boundary changes meant the constituency was now solely an urban area, rather than also containing much of the surrounding countryside.
Peter Walker's son, Robin Walker, was elected as the Conservative MP in 2010.
The constituency is marginal and was selected as a "target" by the Labour Party in 1997 and by the Conservative Party in 2010.
Many political commentators and journalists look on Worcester as having the demographic statistics which most closely mirror those in the United Kingdom as a whole. As such the term "Worcester Woman" has come into use as a description for a typical voter.
Read more about this topic: Worcester (UK Parliament Constituency)
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