Editing Northampton (section)

=== Politics ===
[[File:Charles Bradlaugh Statue Northampton.jpg|thumb|180px|Statue of the Northampton MP [[Charles Bradlaugh]] in the town.]]
{{Further|topic=politics in Northampton|Northampton North (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton South (UK Parliament constituency)}}
[[Northampton (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton]] was inaugurated as a constituency in 1295; for many centuries it returned two [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) to the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]]. [[Spencer Perceval]] was elected as one of these in 1796 and became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] in 1809, the only Solicitor General and only Attorney General to have done so, but also the only Prime Minister to be assassinated. The murder was by a highly disgruntled business owner [[John Bellingham]] in the House of Commons lobby in 1812. By the late 19th century, Northampton had acquired a reputation for political [[vanguardism]]. In 1880, radical non-conformist [[Charles Bradlaugh]] was elected as one of the MPs. During one of his election cross-candidate hustings a riot broke out in the Market Square. Local figures of authority called military to disperse it. For some decades following the [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918 general election]], representation was reduced to one MP.

In 1974, the original Northampton seat was replaced by the new constituencies of [[Northampton North (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton North]] and [[Northampton South (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton South]], which both elected one MP each, beginning in the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 general election]]. For the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], the new [[South Northamptonshire (UK Parliament constituency)|South Northamptonshire]] constituency took a southern sector of the borough. The southern sectors transferred to Northampton South for the [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 general election]].

Northampton is currently represented by two Labour MPs:

*[[Lucy Rigby]] (Northampton North)
*[[Mike Reader]] (Northampton South)