The Conservatives won Twickenham and Richmond Park and North Kingston in a dramatic election night that saw Vince Cable ousted after 18 years as MP.

It was an emotional and long night for all concerned as the national picture and early signs made it clear there could be a major upset.

And so it was, as Tania Mathias won 25,580 votes to the former Business Secretary’s 23,563, overturning a majority of more than 20 per cent from the 2010 election that led to coalition.

Will Kelleher, working for SW Londoner website, captured the moment after Vince Cable's loss

Zac Goldsmith had moments earlier romped home in Richmond Park and North Kingston, beating Liberal Democrat Robin Meltzer by 34,404 votes to 11,389.

Richmond and Twickenham Times:

Winner: Zac Goldsmith reflects on his victory

Dr Mathias, who welcomed Tory PM David Cameron and Boris Johnson to the area in the final days of her campaign, said: “Big thanks to Vince Cable who has been an amazing local MP who has served Twickenham for 18 years.

“That is an amazing feat of public office.

“So many people on the doorstep said what a great local MP he had been.”

Dr Mathias became Twickenham's first female MP and leader of the council Lord True said the pair would sit down to discuss her role as Hampton Wick councillor. 

She went on to dedicate the victory to a young boy called Daniel from Hampton Wick who said he would stay up to watch the result come in on the television.

Dr Cable, visibly shaken by the defeat, said: “It has been a great honour being an MP.

“This has been a terrible night for our party all over but I am absolutely sure we will bounce back both nationally and locally.”

He said fear of a Labour and Scottish National Party government had contributed to a Liberal Democrat collapse, felt keenly in south-west London, where Ed Davey also lost his seat to Conservative challenger James Berry.

Richmond and Twickenham Times:

Did it: Tania Mathias pulled off one of the stories of this year's general election

Zac Goldsmith said: “I am quite superstitious so I made no calculations or estimations.

“I had hoped with my record locally that I would be given a second term and I am honoured to have been re-elected as MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston.

“I have a lot of people to thank and will be doing a lot of that over the next couple of days.”

Speaking about his priorities as he begins his second term as an MP, he said he would continue with current issues affecting his constituency.

He said: “The same issues remain – I will carry on fighting the threat of Heathrow expansion.

“There is the issue of schools places, people here expect the best possible schools for their children.”

Defeated Liberal Democrat Robin Meltzer said: “I congratulate Zac Goldsmith on his victory.

“It has been a terrible night for Lib Dems across the country.

“There is a long Lib Dem tradition in Kingston and Richmond which we have to work hard to revive and I know we can.

“The Lib Dems, locally, aren’t going anywhere and neither am I.”

Lord True, Conservative leader of Richmond Council, was delighted with the results on the night.

He said: “It is a stunning victory and is really like a Portillo moment.

“People talk about when a long-serving MP goes down, it is a big event and due respect to Vince.”

Speaking about the Tory monopoly in Richmond of the council and the two parliamentary seats, Lord True said it was a “great position” to be in.

He added: “A lot of people worked very hard for that.”

See how the night unfolded:

Richmond and Twickenham election as it happened

Twickenham results in full: 

Tania Mathias (Con): 25,580
Vince Cable (Lib Dem): 23,563
Nick Grant (Lab): 7,129
Barry Edwards (UKIP):  3,069
Tanya Williams (Green): 2,463
Dominic Stockford (Christian Party): 174
David Wedgwood (Magna Carta Party): 26

Richmond Park and North Kingston in full:

Zac Goldsmith (Con): 34,404
Robin Meltzer (Lib Dem): 11,389
Sachin Patel (Lab): 7,296
Andree Frieze (Green) 3,548
Sam Naz (UKIP): 2,464