Howard extends personal majority

Michael Howard had earlier voted with his wife and daughter

Conservative leader Michael Howard was one of several members of his party to hold onto their seats in Kent.

Ann Widdecombe held Maidstone and the Weald, Hugh Robertson won in Faversham, Michael Fallon held his Sevenoaks seat and Julian Brazier won in Canterbury.

Sir John Stanley won Tonbridge and Malling for the ninth time, Damian Green held onto Ashford and Roger Gale kept his seat in Thanet North.

In Tunbridge Wells, Greg Clark held the seat previously taken by Archie Norman.

The Liberal Democrats had said they were hopeful of winning Mr Howard's Folkestone and Hythe seat, but he kept it with an 8% swing in his favour.

Ann Widdecombe won Maidstone and the Weald for the fifth time

He increased his majority from 5,907 to 11,880 and said "the fact my majority has nearly doubled makes me feel very humble indeed".

Mr Howard said: "I am very grateful to the people of this constituency, this wonderful constituency, I have had the honour and privilege to represent for more than 20 years now."

He said it looked as though Tony Blair had won a third term as prime minister and said "the time has come for him to deliver".

But he added that Mr Blair would have his support if he did "deliver".

In Miss Widdecombe's fifth general election win, she increased her majority to almost 15,000, receiving 25,670 votes, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats both polled just under 11,000.

She said: "It's been very good for us tonight, we've had gains and we've had big swings towards us.

Greg Clark is the new Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells

"I think what we've done this time is a solid foundation for victory in the future."

Julian Brazier retained the Canterbury seat he has held since 1987 with an increased majority of about 7,500.

He hailed the "huge majority" he had been returned with and said: "People have had enough of Tony Blair."

In Tunbridge Wells, Mr Clark held onto the seat held by Archie Norman since 1997 with an almost unchanged majority of about 10,000 votes.

He said it was a "great honour" to be the town's new MP.

Conservative Hugh Robertson held onto the Faversham and Mid Kent seat he first won in 2001, this time with a majority of almost 9,000.

Sir John Stanley has held Tonbridge and Malling since 1974

He said: "I think tonight is going to leave us in a very strong position and we're in for an interesting time.

"Michael Howard has done fantastically well for us when you look at where we started from.

"I hope he's going to be around for a very long time."

Sir John Stanley held the Tonbridge and Malling seat he has held since 1974, while Damian Green also had a healthy majority in Ashford.

They were both returned with majorities of more than 13,000 votes.

Roger Gale's majority in Thanet North was 7,634, increased by just a few hundred with a swing to the Conservatives of less than 1%.