Lib Dems slash Tory majority in by-election

10.54.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 30th Jun 2006

Ben Abbotts, Lib Dem candidate in the by-election, with Ming Campbell MP, party leader

The Liberal Democrats have achieved a stunning result in the recent Bromley and Chislehurst by-election.

The Conservatives just retained one of their safest seats with a tiny majority of just 633 votes, despite a massive swing to the Lib Dems. The 11% decrease in the Conservative vote is the worst by-election result for the party in a Tory held seat since February 1997 - in the last days of the John Major premiership.

Labour sank to a humiliating fourth place behind the UK Independence Party in the by-election, which was called after the death of longstanding Tory MP Eric Forth.

"This is a stupendous result for the Liberal Democrats in one of the safest Conservative seats in the country" said Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell MP. "It shows that there is no confidence in Cameron's Tories in

Conservative heartlands".

The BBC called it "a stunning result", "a very bad night for David Cameron" and "a very, very good night for the Liberal Democrats".