The constituency covers a substantial rural area of north-east Staffordshire, northeast of Stoke-on-Trent, and borders Derbyshire and Cheshire.

The southern part of Dove Dale on the border features rock climbing as well as Jacob's Ladder and Bertram's cave and well.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.

Despite this alternation, it was far from a bellwether (that is, a reflection of the national result), as Leek leaned more towards one party more than the other in two phases: In the first, longer part of this period the seat was held mainly by William Bromfield (Lab), secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades (ASTWKT), whose membership covered Staffordshire and South Cheshire, and then by the future Harold Davies (later Baron Davies of Leek), who as the main aide to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was tasked with secret talks with Ho Chi Minh which failed due to a leak.

In the second part of this period David Knox, a pro-European Conservative, toward the left of his party, and a supporter of Ted Heath when he faced Margaret Thatcher's leadership challenge, helped to establish the Tory Reform Group.

After Knox's retirement for the 1997 election, Charlotte Atkins held the seat for Labour until 2010 when it was captured by the current incumbent, Karen Bradley.

Bradley served in the cabinet of both of Theresa May's governments, but returned to the backbenches after Boris Johnson became prime minister.