Massive victory for Conservatives in Henley, Labour come fifth

On Gordon Brown’s first anniversary as PM Labour come fifth in Henley – behind the British National Party and the Greens.  Labour also lost its deposit.

The Conservatives have a new MP – John Howell, pictured above, with Chris Grayling MP just in the background.

The Conservatives won a majority of 10,116 over the LibDems.

The Conservative share of the vote (57%) actually went up.

The LibDems (28%) tried to run a negative campaign but it failed.  Their by-election machine will need an overhaul after this.

Many congratulations to Dr Howell and the whole Tory campaign team.

> ConservativeHome’s reports on the Henley campaign.

2.30am: Full results (from The Times)

1. John Howell (C) 19,796 (57%, +3.5%)
2. Stephen Kearney (LD) 9,680 (28%, +1.8%)
3. Mark Stevenson (Green) 1,321 (3.8%, +0.5%)
4. Timothy Rait (BNP) 1,243 (3.6%)
5. Richard McKenzie (Lab) 1,066 (3.1%, -11.7%)
6. Chris Adams (UKIP) 843 (2.4%, -0.1%)
7. Bananaman Owen (Loony) 242 (0.70%)
8. Derek Allpass (Eng Dem) 157 (0.45%)

C maj 10,116 (29.1%), 0.81% swing LD to C

Turnout 34,761 (50.3%, -17.6%)

3am: Lord Rennard – architect of the negative and unsuccessful LibDem campaign – cuts a lonely figure in the deserted hall where the result was declared: