Tories gain Ealing and Harrow East in London election
07th May 2010
The Conservatives have gained seats from Labour across London, but not in some key marginals. The Tories have taken seven seats from Labour in the capital including Harrow East, and Ealing Central and Acton.
But they failed to make gains from Labour in Westminster North and Tooting. Labour held Barking, where the BNP's Nick Griffin came third.
By 1000 BST, 64 London seats had been called. The Tories won 27, Labour 31 and the Liberal Democrats six.
Tory Zac Goldsmith gained Richmond Park from the Lib Dems. The Tories also gained Brentford and Isleworth, Croydon Central and Hendon from Labour.
The Conservatives held Enfield North, Enfield Southgate, Kensington, Putney and Wimbledon but failed to make gains from Labour in the target seats of Battersea and Croydon Central.
Labour cabinet member Siddique Khan held the seat of Tooting. He said his campaign was a "positive response to smears".
The Lib Dems held Carshalton and Wallington, Twickenham, Kingston and Surbiton, Sutton and Cheam, and Hornsey and Wood Green.
BNP defeated
Labour minister Margaret Hodge saw off a challenge by the British National Party (BNP) in Barking in a win she called the "moral battle of her life".
She retained the seat with a majority of more than 16,000 after gaining 24,628 votes.
BNP party leader Nick Griffin was beaten into third place with 6,620 votes by the Conservatives on 8,073.
Meanwhile, Tory Bob Blackman gained Harrow East from Labour candidate Tony McNulty, with a 7% swing.
Mr McNulty quit as employment minister in 2009 after it emerged he had been claiming expenses for a house where his parents lived, just eight miles away from his main home.
Meanwhile Labour's Glenda Jackson held onto Hampstead and Kilburn, in a tight three way race with the Tories and Lib Dems.
She gained 17,332 votes, despite a 6. 7% swing to the Tories on 17,290 votes.
Labour also held on to Westminster North, another key Tory target seat.
Emily Thornberry held on to Islington South and Finsbury for Labour.
Her majority was previously just over 500 votes - with the seat one of the Lib Dems' key targets. But Labour increased their majority.
Jeremy Corbyn, who held on to his Labour seat in Islington North, called it a "great night" for the party in Islington.
'Sort out the mess'
Earlier, Jane Ellison took Battersea from Labour with a swing of 6. 5%.
Labour's 2005 majority in the constituency was just 0. 8%, making it a so-called "ultra-marginal" seat and one of the Conservatives' key London targets.
Shadow minister for London, Justine Greening, who held Putney for the Tories, said she hoped a Conservative government would "sort out the mess" left by the Labour administration under Gordon Brown.
Meanwhile, candidates were subject to an agonising wait for results in Poplar and Limehouse, and in Bethnal Green and Bow, as a lengthy verification process was attributed in part to a high voter turnout.
Source: BBC