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
Premiership of Gordon Brown there had been none. The House of Lords defeated the bill, which Lords said was "fatally flawed, ill thought through and unnecessary", stating that "it seeks to further erode ... fundamental legal and civil rights". Gordon Brown caused controversy during September and early October 2007 by letting speculation that he would call a snap general election continue. The Labour Party launched an advertising campaign, "Not Flash, Just Gordon", which was seen largely as pre-election promotion of Brown as Prime Minister. Following the negative reaction to his visit to British troops in Iraq during the 2007 Conservative Party Conference, an unrehearsed