Rochdale (UK Parliament constituency) The Liberal Democrats held the seat at first, with Liz Lynne winning at the 1992 general election, only to lose to Labour's Lorna Fitzsimons at the 1997 election. However, they regained the seat at the 2005 election, with Paul Rowen defeating Fitzsimons. In 2010, the town was brought to national attention when then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown was caught on a tape recording describing a local woman, Gillian Duffy, as a "bigot" after having a conversation with her while campaigning (later described as "Bigotgate" by the UK media), but despite the unfavourable publicity, Labour still managed to narrowly win the seat
Political pensioner Only one Sikh pensioner : Similar 'golden cage' arrangements were often made later by other (not only British) governments. An extreme case was the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, for whom the Italian island of Elba was turned into an operetta 'empire' until his escape, Cent Jours revolt and miserable banishment to St. Helena. Political pensioner A political pensioner enjoys a pension awarded due to his or political career or significance. By the Political Offices Pension Act 1869, pensions were instituted for those who had held political office. For the purposes of the act, political offices were divided into three classes: