Boris Johnson has won Henley for the Conservatives with 20,466 votes.

Mr Johnson, the editor of The Spectator, saw off the challenge from the Liberal Democrat candidate Catherine Bearder, with 12,008 votes, and Labour's Janet Matthews, with 9,367.

Boris Johnson In his speech, Mr Johnson said it had not been a great night for the Tories across the country, but he said: "We will be back. We will return. We are capable of regenerating ourselves."

Signalling that it was all over bar the shouting, he added: "Let's go back home and prepare for breakfast."

He added that he would represent his constituents to the best of his ability and that his joint careers in journalism and politics would benefit constituents, providing them with a voice in print.

Mr Johnson's agent, Chris Scott, highlighted the Tory success saying Michael Heseltine won 46.4 per cent of the vote in 1997, and Mr Johnson won 45.9 per cent this time.

The results showed the Henley Tory vote holding up despite the exit of Mr Heseltine and uncertainty over how the electorate would receive Boris Johnson.

Turn-out was down by 13 per cent to 64.5 per cent. A total of 44,582 votes were cast.

The losing candidates warned that political apathy among voters was now a major issue. Mrs Bearder said: "For any one who cares about democracy it is very depressing and politicians have to tackle this issue."

She warned that the Conservatives could no longer regard Henley as a safe seat.

Philip Collings, the UK Independence Party candidate agreed there had been a "disappointing lack of engagement" by voters.

He was pleased to have secured more than three per cent of the vote after only founding a Henley branch ten weeks ago.

Mrs Matthews said she was pleased the Labour vote had held up, and she looked forward to to having more resources to campaign with next time.

The Green vote more than doubled from 1997. Green candidate Oliver Tickell put that down to "a very effective leaflet campaign and evenhanded treatment of the minor parties by the local media".

Check out the full Henley results

Check out the full national results