Sleaze, constituency and dissent: voting on Nolan in the House of Commons

Summary Dissension has become increasingly common within the UK House of Commons in recent decades. In November 1995, the government's position on recommendations regarding the disclosure of MPs' financial interests linked to their Parliamentary position was defeated because 22 of its backbenchers voted for a Labour amendment, which was carried. This paper looks at the pattern of voting on that issue, with particular reference to the constituency situation of MPs at a difficult time for many of them, just after a major review of boundaries had been promulgated. It shows that those backbenchers with unchanged seats were much more likely to dissent.