Vince Cable lost his Twickenham seat to Conservative Tania Mathias after another collapse in a former Lib Dem stronghold.
Tania Mathias dramatically won Vince Cable’s once safe Liberal Democrat Twickenham seat in one of the closest fights in the constituency for almost 90 years.
Mr Cable was close to tears as he sacrificed a majority of over 12,000 on a shocking night for the Liberal Democrats across the country.
The last time it was this close in Twickenham was 1929 when the Conservatives won by only 503 votes.
Dr Mathias, the first woman to win the seat, was standing in Twickenham for the first time and increased the Conservative’s 2010 share of the vote by 7.2% to 25,580.
Dr Cable’s majority crumbled as he lost 8,920 votes and came second with 23,563 – he has served as MP for Twickenham since 1997.
Labour’s Nick Grant came third with 7,129 and the remaining candidates lost their deposits.
UKIP’s Barry Edwards (UKIP) secured 3,069 votes, Tanya Williams for the Greens received 2,463, Dominic Stockford for Christian Peoples Alliance 174 and David Dean Wedgwood Magna Carta 26.
Conservative win, majority 2,017 (+5,237)
