HOUSEHOLDERS woke on Friday morning to the startling news that Richmond upon Thames is no longer a Liberal Democrat borough, the Conservatives having scored a landslide local election victory for the first time in nearly 20 years.

After a long night in Richmond upon Thames College's sports hall during which things got progressively worse for the borough's Liberal Democrats, the Tories emerged triumphant at around 5.30am.

There were some shocked faces as long standing councillors fell by the wayside - Barnes councillor Katie Gent, Hampton's Bryan Woodriff, Whitton's Keith MacKinney, North Richmond councillors Alison Cornish and Nick Carthew and this year's mayor, Cllr Eleanor Stanier, were among the familiar faces who lost their seats.

The final toll saw the Liberal Democrats lose half their seats, retaining 15 with 39 going to the Conservatives. The Labour Party lost all four of their seats and the Green and Independent candidates failed to win a single seat.

Richmond upon Thames held on to its reputation for having one of the highest voter turnouts in the country, with some 39.9 per cent of those eligible taking part in the poll. The national average turnout was 34 per cent.

This year every vote counted with many councillors, including Liberal Democrat leader Serge Lourie, holding onto their seats by a margin of less than 20 votes.

The tight race meant three recounts for Whitton Ward which had a 46.5 per cent turnout - the highest in the borough.

Twickenham Riverside Ward had the lowest voter turnout of 35.32 per cent.

In the early hours of the morning Conservative leader Tony Arbour jumped up on a table and made an impromptu speech, much to the disgust of the weary looking Liberal Democrats.

He removed his blue rosette in order, he said, to represent all borough residents, whatever their party.

He said: "Almost 20 years ago it was in my ward (Hampton Wick) where the Conservatives lost control of Richmond upon Thames. That was a bad night for the borough and a bad night for Hampton Wick. But all has now been redeemed.

"I want to thank all of you who've worked so hard. This has been a special night for the Conservative party in London. When Ian Duncan Smith visited Richmond upon Thames I promised him we would deliver and I am happy to say we have done that in spades.

"The Conservatives will be the administration of all residents of the borough irrespective of party, sex etcetera.

"Life in Conservative Richmond upon Thames will be boring. It will be boringly efficient, the streets will be clean, the dustbins will be empty, we will do the best for our children's education where they need it. There will be sound financial management in Richmond upon Thames."

Towards the end of the night there was speculation that the Tory victory had taken them by surprise and many of their prospective councillors were not prepared to take on the commitment.

Cllr Arbour denied the charge saying he did not expect any by-elections in the forthcoming year. He said: "I think that they are going to be so stimulated by the experience that not only will there be no by-elections, they will want to stand again and win their seats in the next local election in four years time."