History
The constituency was established for the February 1974 general election, largely replacing the previous Epsom constituency. Epsom had been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1885.
In Westminster elections, Epsom & Ewell is one of the strongest Conservative areas in the country. However locally the borough council is controlled by the Epsom and Ewell Residents Association, with the Conservatives lacking a firm base here and until recently rarely contested elections. There are also a number of Residents Association councillors in the Reigate & Banstead wards in the constituency, although in the Mole Valley wards the Conservatives have a stronger base and several elected councillors.
In 1987, Barbara Follett, later Member of Parliament for Stevenage, stood for Labour in the constituency.
The seat is not expected to change hands in normal circumstances, unless there is an apocalyptic election for the Conservatives.
Read more about this topic: Epsom And Ewell (UK Parliament Constituency)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)