Michael Howard has said the Conservatives are on the road to recovery.

Following his own return to parliament as MP for Folkestone and Hythe, the Tory leader claimed he had clawed back ground after two heavy defeats.

However he conceded, shortly before Labour secured an overall majority, that he had failed to prevent a third term in power for Tony Blair.

"It looks from the way in which the national results are going that Mr Blair is going to win a third term for Labour," Howard said.

"I congratulate him. But the I believe the time has now come for him to deliver.

"If he does then I will support him. The time has now come for action and not talk from him."

The party leader, having made a series of significant gains in marginal seats, defended his controversial populist strategy and said the Conservatives were well placed to win in 2009.

"For the Conservative Party this election marks a real advance towards our recovery," Howard argued.

"I am proud of the campaign that we have fought.

"The task that faces us in the next parliament is to complete that recovery."

Gains

Commentators had suggested that to qualify the election as a success Howard would need to lead his party to victory in at least 200 seats - and a handful of notable gains will offer hope to the Opposition leader.

The first real success for the Conservatives was in Putney where Justine Greening ousted Labour's Tony Colman.

In winning back the seat of former heritage secretary David Mellor, the Tories scored a surprise victory in their 52nd target seat - with Greening's winning lead of 1,776 overturning Colman's 2001 majority of 2,771.

Enfield Southgate witnessed a major scalp for the Conservatives where education minister Stephen Twigg lost his seat to David Burrows, who recorded a majority of 1,747.

Elsewhere the Tories recorded victories over Labour in Ilford North and Peterborough, while also seizing back Newbury from the Liberal Democrats.

However, the Conservatives were surprisingly unable to repeat their Newbury success in Cheadle where they failed to overturn a Lib Dem majority of just 33.

Meanwhile Theresa May's success in Maidenhead and David Davis' victory in Haltemprice and Howden saw Tory success in fending off the much vaunted Liberal Democrat "decapitation" strategy.