One of the most high profile Conservatives ousted in the council elections – Aphra Brandreth - has revealed her sadness at the party's losses across Richmond.

The Tories were left with just one solitary councillor – down from 11 – once the count was completed in the early hours of today.

Remarkably, that single Conservative is Geoffrey Samuel, who is 91 years of age and was first elected to the Council in 1957 – some 65 years ago. While enormously experienced, Mr Samuel, who may well be the oldest person elected in the Council elections across the entire country, will find taking on the Lib-Dems will be an enormously difficult job.

The Conservatives have been supplanted by the Greens, who now have five councillors and are the official opposition to the ruling Lib-Dems, who collected an astonishing 48 out of 54 seats.

Tory candidate in Barnes, Aphra Brandreth, arrived at the polls on Thursday with her father, the TV and radio personality and former Tory MP, Giles Brandreth. He may well have something to say about the outcome when he brings his one man show 'Break a Leg' to Richmond Theatre in June.

Writing on Twitter, she congratulated the three Lib-Dems who won seats in the normally true blue ward of Barnes.

She said: "It's been a huge honour to represent Barnes for the past 4 years.

advertisement

"Sadly this result did not go my way, but I'm hugely grateful to everyone in Barnes who came out to support me."

She added: "I've been lucky to stand with two fantastic, strong and hard working women.

"We've loved every minute of the campaign, meeting & listening to residents on the doorstep & championing all that's great about Barnes.

"Congratulations to Andrew Hale, Marjory Millum and Fiona Sacks.

"Thank you Barnes, and I look forward to continuing to work hard for my community."