THE Conservatives scraped home with a narrow victory over the Liberal Democrats in the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election last night.

It was a bruising night for both the Tories - whose 13,000 majority at the last election dwindled to just over 600 votes - and Labour who were pushed into fourth place by the UK Independence Party.

Bob Neill, London Assembly Member for Bromley and Bexley, was elected as Eric Forth’s successor.

Mr Forth died suddenly last month, just days after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Although they did not seize the safe Tory seat, the Liberal Democrats and their candidate, Bromley councillor Ben Abbotts, treated the result like a victory.

Mr Neill hit out at personal attacks on him during the campaign, such as naming him ‘two jobs Bob’ because of his post on the London Assembly and criticising the fact that he lives outside the borough, in east London.

Heckled by Lib Dem supporters, he said: "What I find particularly appalling is that a minority of candidates chose to fight this campaign with the most vile, unpleasant and undesirable examples of cynical personal abuse that I have encountered in 30 years in politics."

He added: "I am determined to work for all the people in Bromley and Chislehurst regardless of how they voted."

Mr Neill has chosen to keep his seat on the assembly until the next election to avoid yet another by-election.

Mr Abbotts told his supporters: "Make no mistake, this is an absolutely sensational result for the Liberal Democrats. It shows that we can make advances at the expense of the other parties."

The low turnout of 40.5 per cent is thought to have aided the Lib Dems.

Senior Tory councillors admitted that they had suffered a crushing blow, particularly in light of their positive council election results, last month.

Council leader, Cllr Stephen Carr, said: "It’s exceptionally disappointing."

He blamed Tory voters staying at home and UKIP for taking votes from the Tories.

UKIP in turn blamed the Lib Dems for their fewer than expected votes.

Candidate Nigel Farage said: "We think that we lost about half our vote to the Lib Dems in the last few days."

Labour hopeful Rachel Reeves, who came second at the last general election, tried to put a brave face on her party’s defeat.

"It’s a by-election," she said, "the party in power usually does badly."

Labour had expected to do poorly in the by-election with very few senior party figures visiting the constituency during the campaign.

FULL RESULT

Bob Neill (Conservative) 11,621 votes

Ben Abbotts (Lib Dem) 10,988

Nigel Farage (UKIP) 2,347

Rachel Reeves (Labour) 1,925

Ann Garrett (Green) 811

Paul Winnett (National Front) 476

John Hemming-Clark (Independent) 442

Steven Uncles (English Democrats) 212

John Cartwright (Official Monster Raving Loony Party) 132

Nick Hadziannis (Independent) 65

Anne Belsey (Money Reform Party) 33