Harold Best's 1997 ousting of Dr Keith Hampson, the Conservative incumbent since 1983, was a surprise - after all, the seat had been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1950. Although the 12% swing to Mr Best mirrored Labour's achievements on a national scale, few expected him to win here, after his party could only manage a poor third in the 1992 contest.
Mr Best's victory, with a majority approaching 4,000, was all the more unlikely when the make-up of Leeds North West is taken into account. North Leeds is considered the conurbation's main middle-class residential area and home to a high proportion of the city's non-manual workers, but much like the neighbouring North East Leeds constituency, social changes to its inner-city wards eroded Conservative support.
The seat radiates out from the inner city Headingly ward (home of the eponymous Yorkshire county cricket ground), which with its high student and non-white population would seem to be the only natural stronghold for Labour. The suburban wards of Cookridge and Weetwood, combined with the rural Otley and Wharfdale, to make up a seat which was once regarded as a safe West Yorkshire haven for the Conservatives.
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