Liberal Democrats in Camden know how to win by-elections, although as the polling stations closed last night we were less confident than usual that we had secured all three seats. An army of over hundred Labour activists appeared on the streets in roving gangs knocking up their voters, and their teams always looked bigger than ours. While we went round in 2's and 3's they appeared in 5's, such was their plentiful numbers.

At the count the nervousness continued. The first hints that we were doing well came when we told that Jill Fraser and Matt Sanders were leading the "split votes" where voters decide to split their vote between candidates of different parties. But what about our new candidate Rahel Bokth? Did he have sufficient local support to withstand the Labour onslaught?

As the count continued I retold the story of my lift entrapment from the previous week for the benefit of Richard Osley who had yet to read my blog. I also managed to send him a picture taken inside the lift on my ancient mobile to his more modern gadget, so no doubt that will appear somewhere in the blogosphere.

As the piles for the block votes started building up my squinting eyes spotted that there were more for the Liberal Democrats than for Labour so there was a chance we had won all three seats even after the split votes.

Jill and Matt started smiling a lot at a distance but I could not work out Rahel's expression. It still seemed to be too close to call. Then we heard that Labour had requested a bundle check - a very good sign. Theo Blackwell had already admitted in passing that the "yellows" had won, but the final figures demonstrated how close it had become with Rahel squeezing in by 34 votes!

A sensational night after a lot of hard work by an amazing team. Liberal Democrats in Camden know how to win by-elections....