History
The constituency was first formed in 1974 and took its present boundaries in 1997. Since its formation the constituency has only elected Labour MP's. It was first represented by Peter Snape from 1974 to 2001 and he was succeeded by the current MP Tom Watson. It is now generally considered to be a safe seat for the Labour Party, who won the seat with large majorities in the 1990s and 2000's, although this was not the case in the 1980s when the Conservative Party came close to winning the seat.
Read more about this topic: West Bromwich East (UK Parliament Constituency)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)