Islington was an early stronghold for the Social Democratic Party in which all three sitting Labour MPs defected to the party together with a majority of the Borough Council. However, in the 1983 general election Labour managed to retain the constituency narrowly. The new MP, Chris Smith, was the first MP to come out as gay and was identified with the Labour left, and kept the seat with a slight increase in his majority in 1987. By 1992 the Liberal Democrats had faded and no longer had the former MP as a candidate and Smith managed a five figure majority.
The Liberal Democrat revival in local elections in Islington, which saw them take control of the council in 2000, began to translate to Parliamentary elections in 2001. In 2002, the Liberal Democrats won every council seat in Islington South & Finsbury, and Smith's subsequent retirement and the resultant loss of incumbency made the constituency vulnerable once again in 2005. However Smith's successor, Emily Thornberry, retained the seat with a narrow majority (484 votes) over the Liberal Democrat challenger, Bridget Fox. The seat is now one of the ten most marginal in the UK. However, in the local council elections a year later, Labour experienced something of a resurgence and won a majority of the seats in Islington South & Finsbury, defeating both Bridget Fox and the then council leader Steve Hitchins.
