LAST Thursday's count was a nail-biter for Tory Virginia Bottomley, who had held the SW Surrey seat since 1984.

As the Conservatives were taking a drubbing nationally, a recount was called at Farnham Sports Centre around 3 am, and it became evident that a visibly worried Virginia Bottomley might be forced to relinquish her seat to Liberal Democrat Simon Cordon.

For some, the unthinkable had become the possible. It had not, but only by the narrowest of margins.

With a majority of only 861 over Simon Cordon - 1,833 votes fewer than the figure that separated the Tories from the Lib Dems in 1997 - Mrs Bottomley scraped in with 22,462 votes.

She was right to have felt nervous of the Liberal Democrat challenge. In neighbouring Guildford, her colleague Nick St Aubyn had fallen by an even narrower margin of 531 to Sue Doughty, representing a Conservative to Lib Dem swing of 4.8 per cent.

Winchester showed a Tory to Lib Dem swing of 8.1 per cent, as did Kingston and in Surbiton it was 15.9 per cent.

However, the swing in South West Surrey was only 1.5 per cent in Mr Cordon's favour, and Mrs Bottomley actually increased her share of the vote.

Speaking to The Herald shortly after the declaration, a relieved Mrs Bottomley blamed her party's dwindling appeal on its inability to "sell" its policies.

She conceded that the Conservatives would "have to become more politically astute" to stand any chance of winning back the electorate, and said that the growing Lib Dem presence in her constituency could also be because of this.

She said: "I try to discharge my activities in a non-political way.

"Maybe in today's world it's necessary for anyone who is elected to be more party-political, to be sharper in the selling of their policies and activities."

But she added: "We will learn the lessons."

Speaking of the Lib Dems' burgeoning popularity with the voters, she claimed that Lib Dem MPs had engaged with Tony Blair at Westminster in a "frankly sycophantic way".

There was, she claimed, a "cynical operation of marketing" and a "collusion and obsequiousness" between Labour and the third party at the House of Commons that would appal most local politicians.

Despite nearly losing her seat, and witnessing the crushing defeat of her party for the second term running, she was optimistic about the future.

"Over the years as a MP, you become philosophical.

"The people have made their choice clear. I think that there will be a growing fissure within the Labour Party between the New Labour robots and the reactionaries.

"All the evidence is there that that is emerging."

Although disappointed by his South West Surrey defeat, Simon Cordon saw the 2001 election as a springboard from which the Lib Dems wouldlaunch themselves at the Conservatives: this time as legitimate contenders for the party in opposition.

Claiming the Tories had won "by the distance of a cigarette paper" and drawing attention to the 14,000 Conservative majority that had been destroyed over the past two elections, he said: "We've seen the Conservatives have to do something quite unique in this area: to work very hard indeed.

"The [Lib Dem] party here are so resilient. In over 20 years we've turned what was true-blue into the tightest of marginals.

"Be in no doubt, the Liberal Democrats have marched almost to the top of that hill: we see it in our sights."

Mr Cordon shared none of Mrs Bottomley's optimism for the future of the Tory party, saying that they were "about to break themselves apart".

Turning his dissatisfaction to New Labour and their massive majority, he argued that the landslide was more a democracy-damaging "mudslide" and that the ruling party "cannot govern with enthusiasm".

"The reason why so many of us who have fought as the third party for so many years are so frustrated with politics is because the other parties have made the people so disillusioned."

He added that the government has to understand that the change "people are clearly calling for by abstention" - the turnout for the constituency was only 68.3 per cent, nearly 10 per cent below the last election figure - has to be taken seriously if there is to be a "fundamental change in this country's politics".

Labour's Martin Whelton, who won just 4,321 votes, around 3,000 more than Timothy Clark of the UK Independence Party, was nevertheless delighted with his party's success.

He said: "Labour have been re-elected with a huge, huge majority, and a renewed mandate for change.

"Our vote has held very well in South West Surrey."