Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 to 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was Vice-President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. Kinnock was considered to be on the soft left of the Labour Party.
The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 419 seats.
The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect 651 members to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major won a fourth consecutive election victory, with a majority of 21. This would be the last time that the Conservatives would win an overall majority at a general election until 2015 and the last general election to be held on a day which did not coincide with any local elections until 2017. This election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown a narrow but consistent lead for the Labour Party under leader Neil Kinnock during a period of recession and declining living standards.
Sir John Alan Redwood is a British politician and academic who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire from 1987 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major government and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in the 1990s. Redwood subsequently served in the Shadow Cabinets of William Hague and Michael Howard; he remained a backbencher from then on. On 24 May 2024, Redwood announced that he would stand down as MP for Wokingham and not seek re-election in the 2024 general election.
The 1987 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the Conservative Party, who won a majority of 102 seats and second landslide under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to lead a party into three successive electoral victories.
Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019 and Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014 and Transport Secretary from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Runnymede and Weybridge from 1997 to 2019.
Monmouth was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was created for the 1918 general election. From 2005 until 2024 the Member of Parliament (MP) was David Davies of the Conservative Party.
Islwyn was a constituency in Wales represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The area, historically known for coal-mining, had voted for Labour Party candidates since it was created effective at the 1983 general election. Islwyn's first Member of Parliament (MP) was Neil Kinnock, who represented it until he resigned from Parliament in 1995. Kinnock also served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 until 1992.
Newport West was one of two parliamentary constituencies for the city of Newport, South Wales, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system. Paul Flynn, of the Labour Party, was the MP from the 1987 general election until his death on 17 February 2019. Consequently, a by-election was held in the constituency on Thursday 4 April 2019 and Ruth Jones of the Labour Party was elected.
The 1995 by-election for the UK Parliament constituency of Perth and Kinross in Scotland was held on 25 May 1995, following the death of Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn on 19 February of that year.
The 2011 National Assembly for Wales election was an election for the National Assembly. The poll was held on 5 May 2011 and decided the incumbency for all the Assembly's seats. It was the fourth election for seats in the National Assembly for Wales, and the second election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Irene James is a Welsh Labour politician who represented the constituency of Islwyn in the National Assembly for Wales from 2003 to 2011.
South Wales East was a European Parliament constituency covering southeastern Wales, including Gwent and parts of Mid Glamorgan.
The United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, also known as the UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system was held on Thursday 5 May 2011 in the United Kingdom to choose the method of electing MPs at subsequent general elections. It occurred as a provision of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement drawn up in 2010 and also indirectly in the aftermath of the 2009 expenses scandal. It operated under the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and was the first national referendum to be held under provisions laid out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Many local elections were also held on this day.
Sir Robert James Buckland is a British politician who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from 2019 to 2021, and as Secretary of State for Wales from July to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected as the member of Parliament (MP) for South Swindon in 2010, holding the seat until the 2024 general election.
The 2011 North Somerset Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of North Somerset Unitary Council in Somerset, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2014 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2014 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 22 May 2014, coinciding with the 2014 local elections in England and Northern Ireland. In total, 73 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation. England, Scotland and Wales use a closed-list party list system of PR, while Northern Ireland used the single transferable vote (STV).
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won an unexpected majority victory of ten seats; they had been leading a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. It was the last general election to be held before the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election in Wales was held on 7 May 2015 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The election for each seat was conducted on the basis of first-past-the-post.
The 2024 general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024. Thirty-two seats were up for election in Wales as the general election occurred after the recently completed boundary review took effect. The Labour Party remained the largest party in Wales, gaining six seats for a total of 27. Both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats made gains, taking them to four seats and one seat respectively. The Conservatives lost all thirteen seats they had held previously, leaving the party without Westminster representation from Wales for the first time since 2005.
