Broadly speaking, England does not have a reputation for being a radical or revolutionary country.

Although there have been moments such as the Peasant’s Revolt against Richard II in 1381, and the execution of Charles I in 1649, generally these have been the exception rather than the norm. The civil wars of the 12th century, or the Wars of the Roses three hundred years later, were not the results of popular uprisings but were power struggles between nobles to win control of the English crown.

In 1215, King John was forced to agree to the terms of the Magna Carta by a group of rebellious nobles during The First Baron’s War. This came to be seen as the basis for modern law. The Civil War in the 1640s led to the removal of the monarchy. But this proved to be only temporary: in 1660, after barely a decade of republicanism, the monarchy was restored as Charles II (son of the executed Charles I) returned from exile to become king.

In the centuries ahead, the country would reform gradually and incrementally. There would be no violent revolutions as in France and no written constitutions as in the USA. Royal power would gradually recede and parliament and the voice of the people would grow stronger as an unwritten constitution emerged through a series of laws such as the Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Settlement (1701) and the Reform Act (1832).

Since the 19th century, Britain has always shunned the extremes of fascism and communism in favour of more moderate two-party rule, first by the Conservatives or the Liberals, or then by the Conservatives or Labour. The last Liberal Government, elected in a landslide in 1905, launched a wealth of radical measures including the introduction of an old age pension, which laid the foundations for the creation of the modern welfare state. After a battle with the House of Lords and the real-life carnage of the First World War, the Liberals split in the 1920s and were effectively replaced by the Labour Party.

The Labour Government elected overwhelmingly in the ‘Khaki election’ of 1945, proved radical too, nationalising a third of British industry and creating the National Health Service while overseeing Britain’s post-war housing programme and economic recovery. The 1964-70 Harold Wilson Labour Government changed things too, capital punishment, legalising abortion, liberalising divorce laws and lowering the voting age.

What is radical though? The Thatcher Government of 1979 to 1990 was undeniably radical in a very conservative way, privatising much of British industry and transforming much of the country (for better or worse). Was the New Labour government elected in 1997 less radical than this? Maybe so, although Tony Blair’s massive election wins in 1997 and 2001, do at least suggest the Tories were very much out of favour then.

East Devon, in fact, remains the most consistently Conservative constituency in the country. It is the only constituency in the country to be held by the Conservatives in every election since 1835. Due to boundary changes between the years 1885 and 1997, the East Devon constituency did not exist being replaced by parts of Ashburton, Honiton and Torquay, but was still clearly Conservative in its voting habits throughout this long period.

Between 1997 and 2001, East Devon was held by the late Sir Peter Emery, a former MP for both Reading and Honiton. Sir Hugo Swire, a minister in David Cameron’s government, held the seat between 1997 and 2019. Simon Jupp has been the MP since the most recent General Election in 2019.

In June of this year, plans were announced to redraw the existing constituency map for the next General Election expected to be held in 2023. Under these, the current Tiverton and Honiton seat held by Conservative Neil Parish since 2010 would be split into a new Honiton seat including Honiton, Cullompton, Axminster and Seaton as well as the Sidmouth and Ottery districts currently in Simon Jupp’s East Devon constituency. A new Exmouth constituency would also be created incorporating areas within the existing East Devon seat as well as parts of the Burnthouse Lane, Countess Wear and Wonford areas within Exeter.