Chipping Barnet's long serving Conservative MP Theresa Villiers lost her seat to Labour candidate Dan Tomlinson in a general election that resulted in a landslide victory for Sir Keir Starmer and the Conservatives' worst ever defeat.

Tomlinson won with a solid majority for Labour of just under 3,000 votes in what until recent elections had been one of the Conservatives’ safest seats -- a constituency that had voted Conservative for the last 74 years.

This was history repeating itself: Barnet elected its first-ever Labour MP in the Labour landslide of 1945.

Almost 80 years later, in another Labour landslide that matched the drama of that post-war victory, Labour again topped the poll.

Tomlinson secured 21,585 votes to the 18,671 for Ms Villiers.

Reform UK took third place with 3,986 votes – votes which if they had gone to the Conservatives might have allowed Ms Villers to hold on to her seat.

The Conservatives lost all three parliamentary seats in the London Borough of Barnet. Labour had a clean sweep taking Hendon with a wafer-thin majority of 15 votes and winning Finchley and Golders Green by a comfortable margin of well over 4,000. (see full results below)

This was a devastating defeat for Theresa Villiers, who had been the Chipping Barnet MP for the last 19 years, and who had fought a determined campaign to continue representing the constituency.

She said repeatedly that her constituents needed a voice at Westminster to hold to account a Labour Prime Minister and a Labour Mayor of London, but her seat had become highly marginal.

She held on in the 2019 general election with a majority of 1,212, which was a slight improved on her 2017 majority of 353, but the drastic drop in her support explained why Chipping Barnet had become a top Labour target.

Dan Tomlinson (31) is only the second Labour MP to represent the town of Barnet which became a separate parliamentary constituency in time for the 1945 post-war general election.

Previously the area around Barnet had been included within the Hertfordshire constituency of St Albans but a new seat was established for voters in the urban districts of Barnet and East Barnet and the rural district of Elstree Rural District Council.

Stephen Taylor won the seat in the 1945 Labour landslide. He held it for only one parliamentary term and was heavily defeated in 1950 by the Conservative candidate Reginald Maudling who went on to represent Barnet – and then the redrawn and renamed constituency of Chipping Barnet – for almost three decades until 1979.

He was succeeded by Sir Sydney Chapman who held the seat for 26 years until his retirement in 2005 when Ms Villiers was first elected.

The 2024 general election was fought on new parliamentary boundaries which reshaped the Chipping Barnet seat.

Edgwarebury ward was added to the constituency and replaced Friern Barnet which has become part of the new Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency.

The switch in wards was in Theresa Villiers’ favour as the inclusion of Edgwarebury had the potential off adding an extra 5,000 votes while the loss of Friern Barnet removed a similar number of potential Labour voters, but any possible benefit was swept aside by the Labour landslide.

The count for the borough’s three constituencies was a drawn-out affair with the Hendon result finally being announced in time for a late breakfast.

Councillor Tony Vourou, Mayor of Barnet, announced the results. Photographs by courtesy of Barnet Council.

Chipping Barnet Parliamentary Constituency result: Dan Tomlinson (Labour) 21,585; Theresa Villiers (Conservative) 18,671; Hamish Haddow (Reform UK) 3,986; David Farbey (Green) 3,442; Mark Durrant (Liberal Democrat) 2,614; Richard Hewison (Rejoin EU) 379; Kay Lauer (Independent) 182. Turnout 65 per cent.

Finchley and Golders Green Parliamentary Constituency result: Sarah Sackman (Labour) 21,857; Alex Deane (Conservative) 17,276; Sarah Hoyle (Liberal Democrat) 3,375; Steve Parsons (Green) 3,107; Bepi Pezzulli (Reform UK) 2,598; Brendan Donnelly (Rejoin EU) 486; Katharine Murphy (Party of Women) 318; Michael Shad (Independent) 272. Turnout 64 per cent.     

Hendon Parliamentary Constituency result: David Pinto-Duschinsky (Labour) 15,855; Ameet Jogia (Conservative) 15,840; Joshua Pearl (Reform UK) 3,038; Gabrielle Bailey (Green) 2,667; Clareine Enderby (Liberal Democrat) 1,966; Imtiaz Palekar (Workers Party of Britain) 1,518; Ben Rend (Rejoin EU) 233; Jane Gibson (Social Democratic Party) 139. Turnout 55 per cent.

In a Barnet Council by election, Labour held a vacant seat in the Barnet Vale ward. Sue Baker, a maths teacher at Barnet and Southgate College, was elected with 3,244 votes. She took the place of Marianne Haylett, who was elected in 2022, and who had resigned.

Full result of Barnet Vale by election: Sue Baker (Labour) 3,244 votes; Sachin Rajput (Conservative) 2,858; Simon Cohen (Liberal Democrat) 916; Gina Theodorou (Green Party) 866.