Winning for Bromley - from Shepway

The Lib Dem team from Folkestone and Hythe have been celebrating the huge swing to the Lib Dems at the Bromley By-election. Past Folkestone Lib Dem Agent Shaun Roberts was the mastermind on the Lib Dem campaign, which saw the 17th safest Tory seat in the country turned into a wafer-thin 633 majority.

Lib Dem candidate Ben Abbotts paid tribute to Shaun and the team during his speech after the count.

Other key Bromley team members from the area include Miranda Piercy who ran the by-election office operation and Darren Briddock who led the poster operation. Many other Folkestone and Hythe members visited (many of them regularly) to help during the campaign - including a coach which went from Folkestone west rail station last weekend!

Darren Briddock was particularly elated with the result, having been brought up in Bromley. He said:

"For as long as I can remember, Bromley has always been a really safe seat for the Conservatives - but not any more.

"Although another 700 votes would have turned an incredible result into an unbelievable one, we've delivered a stunning result in Bromley. The whole team - including loads from Folkestone - have had a massive effect. I'm looking forward to getting back to East Kent and continuing the momentum from this campaign: if we can do it in Bromley, we can certainly do it in Shepway!"

The performance in Bromley is the biggest by-election swing from Tory to Liberal Democrat in a Tory-held seat since Eastleigh in 1994, and saw an even bigger swing than in the triumphant Romsey by-election of 2000 that saw the Liberal Democrats defeat the Conservatives.

If the swing were to be repeated in Folkestone and Hythe, the Lib Dems would easily capture the seat.

The result comes in a historically safe area for the Conservatives. Harold Macmillan was the MP for Bromley between 1945 and 1964 and Bromley itself has been held by the Conservatives since 1859.

Since the Bromley and Chislehurst constituency was formed, the Labour Party has always finished in second place and has never polled less than 22 per cent of the vote. In the by-election they received just 6.6 per cent.

On the same day, Labour's performance in Bromley and Chislehurst is the first time a governing party has finished fourth in an English by-election since Liverpool Walton in 1991.

Labour's defeat at Blaenau Gwent came in a traditional heartland. The constituency was the base for Nye Bevan from 1929 to 1960. He was then replaced by Michael Foot, who represented the seat for another 32 years. In the 1983 and 1992 elections Blaenau Gwent was Labour's safest seat. Under its previous names of Monmouthshire West and Ebbw Vale it was held by Labour from 1904 to 2005.

Related Links

• The Bromley and Chislehurst By-election result in full
• The Blaenau Gwent Westminster By-election result in full
• The Blaenau Gwent Assembly By-election result in full