[2] The seat has throughout its history consisted of the town of Henley, a part of the Chiltern Hills AONB interspersed by the larger settlements of Thame and Chinnor, and a narrow, more developed area adjoining the Thames on one bank.

[n 3] In May 2008, Johnson was elected as Mayor of London, and he subsequently resigned from the Commons on 4 June 2008,[5] resulting in a by-election in the constituency, which was won by John Howell.

The 2008 by-election was closer than general elections since 2001 and won by the Conservative candidate, John Howell.

Howell was re-elected at the 2010 general election and again in 2015, when Labour finished second for the first time since 1970 in Henley.

Gained the rural area to the east of Oxford from the abolished County Constituency of Mid-Oxon.

The constituency covered most of the local government district of South Oxfordshire, excluding Wallingford, Didcot and surrounding areas in the west.