The town was represented in Parliament by leading playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan at the end of the 18th century.
Political history
Taken together with the Stafford and Stone seat which existed during the 33-year gap mentioned above, since 1910 when the last Liberal served the seat, the Conservative party has had five members and the Labour party two (this total includes the present member). In summary:
Labour saw a bellwether result in their 1945 landslide victory, but a Conservative regained the seat at the next election in 1950 in the successor seat which he held until his death in 1984.
Effects from the creation of the Stone constituency in 1997 made Stafford somewhat more marginal: sitting Stafford MP Bill Cash followed some of his electors into the Stone constituency, which he won, and after a 47-year lack of a member, Labour's David Kidney gained the constituency in his party's landslide victory in 1997.[n 3]
Boundaries
1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Stafford, the Rural District of Gnosall, the Rural District consisting of the civil parishes of Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard, the Rural District of Stafford except the detached part of the civil parish of Colwich, and part of the Rural District of Cannock.
1983-1997: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castle, Church Eaton, Common, Coton, Eccleshall, Forebridge, Gnosall, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Penkside, Rowley, Seighford, Swynnerton, Tillington, Weeping Cross, and Woodseaves, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Loggerheads, Madeley, and Whitmore.
1997-2010: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castle, Common, Coton, Forebridge, Haywood, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Penkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Acton Trussell, Bishopswood and Lapley, Penkridge North East, Penkridge South East, and Penkridge West.
2010-present: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Common, Coton, Forebridge, Haywood and Hixon, Highfields and Western Downs, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Penkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Penkridge North East and Acton Trussell, Penkridge South East, Penkridge West, and Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley.
Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[3]
^The defeated Conservative candidate in 1997 was David Cameron, who in the next election was elected as the MP for the safe seat of Witney, and became the Conservative Party leader in 2005, and Prime Minister in 2010.
^Chetwynd was initially declared re-elected in 1710, but on petition (in a dispute over the franchise), he was adjudged not have been duly elected and his opponent, Vernon, was seated in his place. (Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (1807), Volume 1, p 177)
^ abElde's opponent, Chetwynd, petitioned against the 1724 result. Elde was "unanimously expelled the House for having offered to compromise the petition against his return", and Chetwynd was seated in his place. (Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845), p 45)
^After Goodricke resigned to contest another constituency in May 1835, the House of Commons refused to issue a writ for a new election until February 1837, when the motion to issue a writ was passed by a single vote. (F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, 2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989, p 283)
^The 1868 election was declared void on petition and a new election was held – F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885. (F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, 2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989, p 283)
Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
Britain Votes/Europe Votes By-Election Supplement 1983–, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1985)
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [2]
D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [3]
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845) [4]
6.3
0.4
