LEOMINSTER became the 24th safest Conservative seat in the country last Thursday.

Fears about the loss of former MP Peter Temple-Morris' 'personal vote' were confounded as new candidate Bill Wiggin increased the Conservative majority from 8,835 to 10,637.

The party was delighted to have regained Leominster, a seat it lost to the defection of Mr Temple-Morris to Labour.

Chairman of the Leominster Conservative Association Judith Hereford said it was "absolutely tremendous" to be back in control.

"We have a young and dynamic MP and will really go from strength to strength," she said.

Labour candidate Stephen Hart, who lives in Colwall, paid tribute to Leominster's former MP. He said Mr Temple-Morris had been a hard working and diligent constituency MP and a man of independent mind.

Mr Wiggin said his top priority would be to fight for a fair deal for people living in the countryside.

In his campaign, he had emphasised health and education but he didn't feel the national party had missed a trick by not following the same example.

"I think our policies were well intentioned but were misinterpreted by the media. I thought William Hague had a fantastic campaign despite the vilification he had to put up with, while Labour looked rattled throughout," he said.

It was a disappointing result for Liberal Democrat Celia Downie

"We had a terrific reception on the doorstep. It is hard to understand what has happened," she said.

Pippa Bennett, from Ledbury, increased the Green's share of the vote in her first election after taking over from the well-known Felicity Norman.

The UK Independence Party's Christopher Kingsley felt his party also suffered from under exposure.