As is common, major disruption in representation caused by both infrequency of Parliaments convened and allegiance of the incumbents (whether a Royalist or a Parliamentarian) led to sporadic representation during the Protectorate of England and its Commonwealth which followed the end of most fighting during the English Civil War, in this case the stripping of wealth and status from Sir William Ogle followed his being supportive of the wrong faction at the wrong time.

At the 1997 general election the incumbent MP Gerry Malone of the Conservative Party was defeated by Mark Oaten of the Liberal Democrats by just two votes.

[4] Malone petitioned the result and it was declared void by the High Court on the grounds of mis-stamped ballots having altered the outcome, necessitating a by-election.

This was won definitively by Oaten with a very large majority of 21,556, in an election that saw the Labour vote collapse to 1.7% hence the candidate, Patrick Davies, losing his deposit.

The candidacy of Richard Huggett in both 1997 elections as a "Literal Democrat" candidate led in part to the creation of the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998.

Poverty is very low, and the population is a mixture of students, academics, London and Southampton commuters, and those employed locally in high-tech and creative industries.

[5] Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.4% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.

The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; East's resignation caused a by-election.