The constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Maurice Macmillan, had died suddenly at the age of 63.

He had recently acquired the courtesy title of Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden when his father (who would ultimately outlive him by nearly three years)[1] was created the Earl of Stockton on 24 February 1984.

Subsequent to the by-election she retained the seat, until she retired from the House of Commons and was granted a Life Peerage in 2005.

The Liberal Party candidate, representing the SDP-Liberal Alliance, was freelance journalist and broadcaster Gavin Douglas Scott (born 1950).

Victor Litvin was an Independent candidate, who upset some people with his unique ballot paper label.