Newark (UK Parliament Constituency) - History

History

Newark was the last borough seat to be created in the Unreformed House of Commons in 1673, prior to the Reform Act 1832. It returned two representatives to Parliament from 1673 until 1885. The future Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, began his political career as Member of Parliament for Newark from 1832 to 1845, later moving to other constituencies.

More recently, the Labour Party held Newark from 1950 until 1979, when it was taken by the Conservatives' Richard Alexander. Alexander lost his seat during Labour's landslide victory at the 1997 general election. The victorious Labour candidate, Fiona Jones, was convicted of electoral fraud and expelled from the House of Commons in 1999 over misrepresented election expenses. The conviction was later overturned upon appeal, and she returned to Parliament. However, Jones lost her seat at the 2001 general election to Patrick Mercer of the Conservatives, who has held it since.

Mercer held the position of Shadow Minister for Homeland Security from June 2003 until March 2007, when he was forced to resign following racially contentious comments made to The Times.

For the first time ever on Wednesday 28th March 2010, three of the four candidates came together in a live radio debate broadcast to the Newark Constituency. Local community radio station 102.6fm Boundary Sound organised the event, which was held at the Everyday Champions Church and saw over 150 local residents attend. Topics covered where Newark's Accident and Emergency facility, Crime, local sports facilities and local education. To listen to the debate and hear the opinions of those present click here. The live two hour broadcast followed the same format as the TV leaders debates, with questions on local and national topics submitted by local residents.