Melanie Johnson

Health minister Melanie Johnson has seen her brief parliamentary career cut short as the Tories won back the Welwyn Hatfield seat they lost in 1997.

A massive swing of eight per cent saw Johnson lose her seat to Conservative candidate Grant Sharps.

Sharps recorded 22,172 votes, establishing a majority of 5,946.

The success represents a major boost to the Conservatives, with Welwyn Hatfield 18th on their target list.

Having spent nearly 20 years as a councillor in Cambridge, Johnson already had extensive political experience to call on when she entered parliament in 1997.

After cutting her Westminster teeth as PPS to then financial secretary Barbara Roche, Johnson served for two years as a parliamentary under secretary at the DTI before becoming minister for public health in 2003.