After Chris Huhne’s resignation, the by-election campaign in Eastleigh is already well underway. James explains the political significance of this Lib Dem-Tory battle in this week’s Spectator, but here are some quick facts about the state of play in Eastleigh, including the first poll results:
A brief history
Eastleigh constituency started out as a Tory-Labour marginal in 1955. Conservative David Price was its first MP, elected with a majority of just 545. By the time he retired in 1992, it had become a fairly safe Tory seat and Stephen Milligan was elected to replace him with a majority of 17,702. But when Milligan died in 1994, the Liberal Democrat by-election machine swept in to action and David Chidgey was elected with a 9,239-vote majority. The Tories were pushed down to third, behind Labour. Chidgey held the seat until standing down in 2005, when Chris Huhne was elected with a narrow majority of 568 over Tory candidate Conor Burns.
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