History
The North Devon constituency was first created for the 1832 general election, when the Reform Act 1832 divided the former two-seat Devon constituency into Northern and Southern divisions, each of which elected two MPs using the bloc vote system of election. The constituency was abolished for the 1885 general election, when the Redistribution of Seats Act split the county up into new single-seat divisions. A new North Devon constituency was created at the 1950 general election, covering a smaller area than before.
The Liberal Democrats and their predecessors the Liberal Party have historically shown a strong performance in this seat, which was held for twenty years by former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. He lost it in the 1979 general election amid a scandal surrounding his relationship with homosexual Norman Scott, and alleged involvement in a plot to murder him, of which he was found not guilty the same year. At the 1992 general election, Liberal Democrat Nick Harvey regained the seat from the Conservatives, and has been the MP since.
Read more about this topic: North Devon (UK Parliament Constituency)
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