The seat includes Cowley (containing a large car factory) and adjoining parts of the city including a broad area of mid-to-low rise council-built housing, Blackbird Leys, which has kept varying amounts of social housing (see Right to Buy) as well as Headington and the two major hospitals in Oxford (the John Radcliffe Hospital and the Churchill Hospital) A large percentage of the seat's electorate consists of students from Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities (the latter being in the seat).

He was defeated by Labour candidate Andrew Smith who held the seat for the next 30 years before retiring.

Ousted ex-MP Norris won the largest runner-up's share of the vote to date (40.4%) during the 1987 general election.

it also included three wards in the District of South Oxfordshire, previously part of Henley (Littlemore) and the abolished constituency of Mid-Oxon (Marston and Risinghurst).The 1997 boundary changes reflected changes to local government boundaries with the majority of the area comprising the three South Oxfordshire wards having been absorbed into the City of Oxford.

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020): The electorate was reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring areas to the west of the River Cherwell, including the city centre and Oxford University colleges, back to Oxford West and Abingdon.