TRUE Blues turned out in force in Fareham to land Mark Hoban half of all votes cast.

In what has been one of the safest Tory seats in the UK throughout its history, Conservative Mr Hoban swept to victory with a convincing majority of 11,702.

An impressive 67.25 per cent of those eligible - 48,817 - voted, 24,151 of them for the 41-year-old chartered accountant from Locks Heath.

Votes for Mr Hoban were up from 21,389 to 24,151 since he first became MP for Fareham in June 2001.

He has since become a shadow minister for education.

A relaxed Mr Hoban stepped on to the stage at the town's Ferneham Hall to cheers, applause and whoops of delight from supporters sporting blue rosettes.

It had been clear for several hours that he would win by the bundles of votes being labelled in blue.

The Conservative victory was finally announced at 3.30am by acting returning officer Alan Davies.

Mr Hoban said: "It's been a clean campaign and one I've enjoyed fighting. We have had a hard, energetic and vigorous campaign which has done us proud in Fareham.

"Above all I would like to thank the people of Fareham who have asked me to represent them in Parliament. I look forward to serving them to the best of my ability over the next four years.

"The tide is turning against this government. That will present us with great opportunities."

Labour's Jim Carr, who gained second spot in Fareham for the second time, picked up 12,449 votes.

He said: "I'm delighted we came second again because to come second in Fareham for Labour is good.

"I'm extremely delighted we will have a Labour government again."

Third placed Liberal Democrat Richard De Ste Croix, with 10,551 votes, was also remaining positive.

He added: "We've emerged with a more popular vote than in the last election. My party will be back."

UK Independence Party candidate Peter Mason-Apps thanked everyone involved in his campaign.

An eligible electorate of 72,951 included nearly 8,000 postal voters and nearly 500 proxy voters.

More than 45,500 votes were cast out of an electorate of 71,526 in June 2001 - a turnout of 63.9 per cent.

About 80 counters spent most of the night totting the votes.

One of them was first-time voter Chris Thorne who had earlier sprung into action to help a woman who had collapsed at the polling station at Henry Cort School.

The newly-trained first aider treated the voter, who made a full recovery.

Candidates and supporters gathered around a big screen in a makeshift TV room where they watched election results pour in from around the country.

Even the Bishop of Portsmouth, The Rt Rev Dr Kenneth Stevenson, was enjoying his first-ever count night.

With a home close to the venue, he had been invited to see how the election process worked.