The twin centres of both medieval Warwick and the Royal Spa of Leamington exude affluence and hardly appear the basis of a Labour seat. Indeed the constituency was the political base of Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden for many years until his fall from grace in 1957. But the former Labour leader in Oxfordshire, James Plaskitt triumphed in 1997 by an almost comfortable 3,000 votes, adding this to other historic English seats (such as Worcester and Chester) which were captured for the very first time by Labour at the last general election.

Away from the tourist trail, both Warwick and Leamington do include solid Labour wards, in the estates to the west and north of Warwick and the Willes ward of Leamington. But there is also strong Conservative support in surrounding rural villages such as Radford Semele and Leek Wootton as well as in twee Henley-in-Arden, in the district of Stratford-on-Avon, where Labour are extremely weak. The Euro elections of 1999 saw the Conservatives lead Labour in the constituency by more than 16%, and their parliamentary hopeful David Campbell Bannerman must be optimistic of re-establishing traditional allegiances (and a famous political name) here next time.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 3,398 (5.6%)  Conservative target 36
MP James Plaskitt
1997 (Turnout 75.7%)
Labour	26,747	44.5%
Conservative	23,349	38.9%
Liberal Democrat	7,133	11.9%
Referendum	1,484	2.5%
Green	764	1.3%
Others	614	1.0%

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For Warwick & Leamington 2001 Election result - click here.