Finchley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, she was nonetheless returned by comfortable (9,000) majorities at general elections throughout her premiership. The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the Finchley and Golders Green and Chipping Barnet constituencies.