Letwin: Held seat

Conservative candidates have polled well against the Lib Dems, signalling a flawed strategy from the third party.

Charles Kennedy's team scored more strongly when taking on Labour MPs than Conservative counterparts, putting paid to talk of taking out senior shadow Cabinet figures.

Senior Tories Oliver Letwin, Theresa May and David Davis all held on in marginal seats against a Lib Dem challenge, despite pleas for tactical voting, although shadow education secretary Tim Collins narrowly lost.

Shadow chancellor Letwin actually increased his majority in Dorset West after considerable speculation that he would be ousted.

The so-called 'decapitation strategy' appears to have flopped, with the Lib Dems even losing seats such as Torbay and Newbury to the Conservatives.

Kennedy's campaign seemed set to be better placed to take on Tories than Labour but looks to have picked the wrong targets.