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
2012 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election Farnell and Allen Brett. It also produced Rochdale's youngest ever councillor in Liam O'Rourke. These results also led to the resignation of local Liberal Democrat leader Wera Hobhouse. After the election, the composition of the council was: "In 2008 Peter Evans stood in this ward as a Liberal Democrat." "In 2008, Mohammad Sharif stood in this ward for the Liberal Democrats." "Maureen Rowbothan stood for the ward in 2008 as a Labour candidate." "Jean Ashworth stood for the ward in 2008 as a Liberal Democrat." 2012 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election The 2012 Rochdale Council election took place on 3