Conservative candidate ousts Tony Colman

The constituency of Putney has been claimed for the Conservatives by Justine Greening who won 42.8% of the vote, she increased her party's share of the vote by 4%. She has ousted sitting MP Tony Colman who saw his share of the poll dive by 9%

Putney was 52nd on the list of Tory targets, 2,771 majority for Labour from 2001 becoming a Conservative majority of 1,766.

An increased share for the Liberal Democrats and the Greens seems to have taken votes away from Mr. Colman making the overall swing away from Labour 6.5%.

Justine Greening was born in 1969, she has an MBA from the London Business School and is a Finance Manager at Centrica plc. She said, "In 2001, people were willing to give the Labour government the benefit of the doubt. But not in Putney any longer...

"We are no longer willing to tolerate a government that is simply not willing to be straight with people about issues of national importance."

Justine has already got experience of local government � she's been a local councillor in Epping, and was Vice Chair of the Finance Committee

Tony Colman (pictured right) represented the constituency for two parliaments famously defeating David Mellor in 1997 and increasing his majority in the 2001 election. His defeat, one of the earlier election results to be declared, was widely taken as a clear signal that Labour's majority would be substantially reduced.

The turnout of 58.5% seems to indicate that the trend of declining voter participation seems to have been arrested.

May 6, 2005