 Predominantly working class, it could be normally be considered a safe Liberal seat; however, the Conservatives managed a narrow victory as part of their national landslide in 1900, perhaps helped by lack of enthusiasm among the potters for the Liberal candidate, Enoch Edwards, who was one of the leaders of the miners' union.Edwards convincingly recaptured the seat in 1906, and with the rest of his union joined the Labour Party in 1909.At the by-election after his death, however, the Liberals regained the seat with the Labour candidate a poor third.