Aylesbury constituency comprises some of the historically most loyal Conservative territories and the most vehemently opposed. Among them are Great Missenden, Princes Risborough and numerous villages which have in the past remained loyal to the Conservatives.
The town itself is dominated by council housing and private "starter" homes put up in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s it was one of the affluent country towns picked out as a site for "designer violence" inflicted on Friday and Saturday nights by beer-swilling youths. Its troubles were portrayed as a consequence of the amoral materialism of Thatcherism although its resemblance to the old "wild" West was greatly exaggerated.
David Lidington, Home Affairs spokesman for the Conservatives since 1999, succeeded Timothy Raison as MP for Aylesbury in 1992.
All six Aylesbury town wards - encompassing about half the electorate - were won by the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 county council elections. On the same day, the Conservative majority in the general election fell to 8,000 from 18,000. However the Lib Dems, in second place, scarcely increased their vote, failing to squeeze Labourís support which went up by 9%.