2001 United Kingdom general election previous autumn had shown the first Tory lead (though only by a narrow margin) in the opinion polls for eight years as they benefited from the public anger towards the government over the fuel protests which had led to a severe shortage of motor fuel. By the end of 2000, however, the dispute had been solved and Labour were firmly back in the lead of the opinion polls. In total, a mere 29 parliamentary seats changed hands at the 2001 Election. One of the more noted events of a quiet campaign was when countryside protester Craig Evans threw an egg
Sir William Prescott, 1st Baronet Prescott was MP for Darwen. Sir William Prescott, 1st Baronet Sir William Henry Prescott, 1st Baronet, CBE, DL (1874 – 15 June 1945) was a British engineer and Conservative Party politician. The son of John Prescott, he initially studied law and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1909. He subsequently took up a career in civil engineering, acting as a consultant to a number of government committees on water supply and roads. During the First World War he was commanding officer of 222nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.