History
Prior to the February 1974 general election, this constituency was known as Southgate. Strictly a London Borough prefix to the constituency name (in this case Enfield) was introduced in 1974.
The seat gained national attention in the 1997 general election when the Secretary of State for Defence Michael Portillo was unexpectedly defeated on a massive swing. Portillo had been widely expected to contest the Conservative leadership and his defeat was taken by many to epitomise the Labour party landslide victory. The victorious candidate, Stephen Twigg, increased his majority at the following election.
In the 2005 general election Twigg's majority was the largest overturned, with a swing of 8.7% to the Conservative candidate David Burrowes.
Read more about this topic: Enfield Southgate (UK Parliament Constituency)
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