The forerunner seat had been represented by members of the
Labour Party since 1935. The constituency was formed in 1983, and was represented by
Labour's
Gerry Bermingham from then until he stood down in 2001. He was replaced by
Shaun Woodward, who had defected from the
Conservatives to Labour in December 1999. Woodward was deemed unlikely to retain his
Witney constituency in
Oxfordshire as a Labour candidate (it was subsequently won by
David Cameron, future Leader of the
Conservatives and
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), and was instead selected for this
safe seat. Woodward had won all three elections however he lost his position in the cabinet because of the Labour party defeat to the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government in the
2010 general election. ==Members of Parliament==