Dominic Grieve retains Beaconsfield with huge majority (From Bucks Free Press)

Dominic Grieve retains Beaconsfield with huge majority

5:28am Friday 7th May 2010 in Elections By James Nadal

THE BEACONSFIELD seat was won with an enormous majority by incumbent Dominic Grieve this morning.

Tory Mr Grieve got 32,053 votes - nearly 8,000 more than in 2005 - and beat second placed Lib Dem John Edwards by more than 20,000.

While the Lib Dems improved on their performance from the last election Labour’s total fell by more than 2,000.

The turnout was 74.1 per cent - up by more than 10 per cent. The swing was 4.7 per cent from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives.

Ukip managed a slight increase of about 400 votes.

Mr Grieve said: “I'm delighted with the result and pleased with the majority and appreciate the endorsement I’ve been given.

“So far as the future is concerned I've no idea what tomorrow will bring.”

Acknowledging the likelihood of a hung parliament, he said: “It will require us to exercise some wisdom, I expect some restraint and also that we should look for the common good at all times.

“All I can say is that it has been an immense privilege for me to represent this constituency.

“I hope I can serve the people of Marlow in the same way as the rest of the constituency.”

He added: “It's been a particular pleasure that this election has seen the rise of participatory democracy.”

He thanked his opponents for helping conduct the campaign “in a spirit of friendship and robust debate.”

Runner-up John Edwards said: “I'm very pleased with the turnout but a little bit disappointed we got just under 20 per cent of the vote when we thought from our reaction on the doorsteps, speaking to people on the streets and polling stations.

“We had a vibe that clearly we were going to achieve more than 20 per cent but there’s been a swing nationally and that's probably the reason.”

Third place went to Labour’s Jeremy Miles. He said: “It's a disappointment that the vote has gone down but its realistic in the context of the swing nationally, the Lib Dems have clearly benefited here in a way - maybe from the Clegg thing.

“It's not very surprising but I’m disappointed we didn't manage as many votes as last time.”

Independent candidate Quentin Baron, who said he was fed up with the Labour and Conservative switch over every other election, told the Free Press he was glad he stood.

"I feel it was right to do it and I feel proud to have done it," he said.

But he hit out at the electoral system and said it was time for proportional representation.

He said: "Even if a monkey stood the Tories would win, we all know that."

He said businessmen should be in charge of the economy, not 'lying, incompetent, unqualified' politicians and said whoever wins there will be no significant change.

The result: Beaconsfield: Result Conservative win: Dominic Grieve 32,053 John Edwards (Lib Dem) 10, 271 Jeremy Miles (Lab) 6135 Delphine Gray-Fisk (Ukip) 2597 Jeremy Bailey (Green) 768 Andrew Cowen (Vote against MP expense abuse) 475 Quentin Baron (independent) 191