Barry Gardiner has secured his fifth term serving Brent North in a sweeping victory for Labour.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Barry Gardiner wins Brent North for fifth time Pic credit: Angela BlakeBarry Gardiner wins Brent North for fifth time Pic credit: Angela Blake (Image: Archant)

In the wake of his party’s election results nationally, Mr Gardiner did well not only to keep his seat but increase his personal majority of 28,351 by nearly 4,000 votes.

The politician, first elected in 1997 when he beat the Conservative Party’s Rhodes Boyson, described his win as “pretty awesome”.

It was a double win for the Labour party as Dawn Butler wiped out the competition with a 62 per cent share of Brent Central’s votes.

Mr Gardiner said: “We are facing something really serious in Brent, the social cleansing we are seeing all over London.”

He added: “There is a real crisis in homelessness but the housing being built are one’s people can’t afford to buy or live in.”

He added a government was needed to “take on this challenge” that would otherwise keep growing.

Aware of the polling situation at the time declaring a Conservative minority and the Labour losses in his native Scotland, the 58-year-old said: “It’s a difficult election for me to see the way this borough and this country could be torn apart if the polls are right.”

He told the Times that his first priority was to his constituents and would be clearing the backlog of six week’s case work: “People’s lives don’t go on hold when you have an election,” said the incumbent who has served Brent North for 18 years.

But he said his thanks were for his team: “It’s the team in my office that works for the people in Brent and create such a sense that they matter and that we care.”

Disappointed to come second, the Conservative Luke Parker gained 17,517 votes, grabbing 34 per cent of the share on a night that saw a 61,41 per cent of voters come out.

He said: “I have mixed emotions. I would have loved to have won it but I lost to a man who is highly respected. However the increase of the Conservative majority shows we can gain further ground in this area.”

Paul Lorber for the Lib Dem’s came third with 2,607 beating the Green’s Scott Bartle’s 1,539.

Mr Lorber had earlier said: “If the poll is accurate we are in deep trouble. But we’ve been here before, we’ve been around for long enough and we will recover.”

Both Labour leader Ed Miliband and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg resigned today after taking huge losses.

The Conservative winning an outright majority for the first time since 1997, the year Mr Gardiner won his seat.