This seat was contested for the first time in the 1992 election, after the Boundary Commission split the town of Milton Keynes into two seats. The Conservatives won it comfortably in 1992 with a majority of almost 14,200 and an increased vote. In 1997, the Labour candidate, Brian White overturned that majority. His majority of 240 makes this Labourís third most marginal constituency.
This is the more rural of the two Milton Keynes constituencies, containing villages in the northern tip of Buckinghamshire such as Lavendon and Olney. The seat also incorporates the old borough of Newport Pagnell and some affluent commuting and golfing areas at Woburn Sands.
However, the constituency also includes the New Town wards of Bradwell, Linford, and Pineham. Here, at local level, the Liberal Democrats have recently performed better than Labour and the Conservatives.