The Conservative candidate in this election is Boris Johnson, editor of The Spectator, who is known to hold the opposite view on Europe to that of Mr Heseltine.

Henley-on-Thames is located in the south of the seat and Thame is in the north, with other towns including Goring, Wheatley and Great Milton in between. The seat is home to commuters travelling to both London and Reading.

Henley is a prosperous constituency with a large farming community. In addition it is home to Perpetual - an American unit trust company that employs large numbers of the local population. Henley also has two large computer companies - AIT and Ridicom, with the latter being the pioneer of the system of computer bookings of airline tickets.