Conservative candidate Matthew Offord has ousted Labour’s Andrew Dismore to win the Hendon constituency in one of the country’s closest election battles.

Mr Offord, a former deputy leader of Barnet Council, won by just 106 votes following a recount.

He received 19,635 votes to Mr Dismore’s 19,529.

The result represented a swing of 5.2 per cent to the Tories from Labour.

The Liberal Democrats’ Matthew Harris, the only Jewish candidate in the ward, trailed in third with 5,734 votes.

Mr Dismore, who had held the seat since 1997, was understandably disappointed by the result. In his farewell speech he accused Mr Offord of a “dirty” campaign.

He had worked tirelessly for Jewish and Israeli causes but was mired by expenses allegations in the past 12 months.

The two main parties could barely be separated after 11 hours of counting. The Conservatives took 42.3 per cent of the vote, with Labour on 42.1 per cent.

All the results from the key constituencies on our Election 2010 page