RICHMOND: Triumph as Hague increases vote share

The current foreign affairs spokesman and David Cameron's de facto number two won just under 63 per cent of the vote – an increase of 3.5 per cent on 2005's notional majority and more than 13,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival.

Mr Hague, the former leader of the Conservatives, has held the Richmond seat for the past 21 years, becoming the youngest Conservative MP when he won the seat in 1989 aged 28 when he succeeded Leon Brittan. He has now defended the seat successfully a total of six times since being first elected.

Following the result Mr Hague told the Yorkshire Post: "I am delighted to be elected to represent the people of Richmond for a sixth time, with a record share of the vote and the largest Conservative majority.

"I am looking forward to returning to Westminster and continuing to be a strong voice for our rural community."

He also thanked the electorate for re-electing him, saying that he considered it a "privilege" to serve the area.

Mr Hague returned to frontline politics in 2005 when he was offered the shadow foreign affairs role by the then recently elected party leader David Cameron.

He has continued to stand in from time to time for Mr Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. He is widely expected to form part of any Conservative government that is formed, and is likely to fill the slots of Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

He was challenged in the seat by Lawrence Meredith for the Liberal Democrats, Eileen Driver for Labour and Leslie Rowe for the Greens, who won 10,205, 8,150 and 1,516 votes respectively.