I'd like to thank the 17,290 of my neighbours who voted for me at last Thursday's election. It is very touching to have won the trust of so many people. I'd also like to thank from the bottom of my heart the literally hundreds of volunteers who gave their time so freely to the campaign. Their dedication - in all weather and at virtually all times of day and night - are something I will never forget. There will be a thank-you party for all those who helped the campaign shortly, and details will follow.

The result here in Hampstead & Kilburn was the closest on the mainland UK - I lost to Glenda Jackson by just 42 votes, out of 53,000 cast. The Lib Dems trailed in third, despite all their pre-election claims. We put in a great performance here - we almost doubled the number of votes cast for the Conservative Party and grew our share of the vote by 9.8%. There were almost no seats in the country which acheived these kind of results.

It is obviously painful to have lost by such a tiny margin. Of course I've wondered "What if we'd done X differently?" or "What if fewer people had been taken in by the Lib Dem's claims?" But the result is now in. Nothing will change it, and I wish Glenda well for her sixth term in Parliament.

Over the course of the last four years as a Camden councillor and three and a half as the Parliamentary Candidate, I have met some amazing people here. Our neighbourhood is one of the most diverse in the country. I firmly believe that this is one of the most engaged communities in the country. I'm certainly looking forward to continuing to be an active part of it. If there is anything I can do to help our community in the coming months and years, I will obviously be only too happy to do it. If anyone menaces our Police stations or threatens our tube service, I will still be here to help lead the campaigns!

Nationally, I don't think that the hung Parliament we now have is a very helpful outcome. Hopefully our political leaders will find a way of best serving the nation's interests, and placing their own interests to one side. We'll see how that develops.

Finally, there is one good thing about the election result locally here: for the first time in months, I've had time to go running on Hampstead Heath every single day since the result came in. And there isn't much that beats that!

Chris Philp

Conservative Candidate for Hampstead & Kilburn, May 2010 Election