History
The constituency was created for the February 1974 general election. The area had previously been part of the constituency of Gosport and Fareham.
It is a safe Conservative seat, though it has some stark social divisions; the large council estate of Rowner, for example, is one of the most deprived areas in the United Kingdom.
Following an historic Open Primary election where the Conservative Party asked all members of the Constituency to take part in choosing the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Caroline Dinenage was selected. At the general election on 6 May 2010, Caroline Dinenage was elected with 24,300 votes and a majority of 14,413.
Previously, the constituency had been represented since its creation by Sir Peter Viggers. He was told to step down by David Cameron after his infamous attempt to claim for a duck house during the MPs' expenses scandal.
Read more about this topic: Gosport (UK Parliament Constituency)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)