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
1972 Rochdale by-election 1972 Rochdale by-election The Rochdale by-election, 1972, was a parliamentary by-election held on 26 October 1972 for the British House of Commons constituency of Rochdale. The by-election took place during the 1970s Liberal revival, in one of the areas with few Labour held seats and where the Liberal Party was in second place. This was the first Liberal gain during the 1970–1974 Parliament. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), John "Jack" McCann (4 December 1910 – 16 July 1972), died. McCann first contested the Rochdale seat for Parliament in 1955 without success. He