Penrith and The Border

Penrith and The Border was first contested in 1950, since which it was generally a safe Conservative seat and on rare occasions a marginal. The Conservatives came close to losing the seat in a 1983 by-election, when the former cabinet minister William Whitelaw became the leader of the House of Lords: the by-election took place a mere seven weeks after his success in the 1983 general election. Since that year, the Liberal Democrats had come second behind the Conservatives until the 2015 general election when they came fourth. At the two subsequent general elections, they came third.