On paper, Twickenham - the seat includes several other areas such as Hampton and Teddington - is the safest of the five Lib Dem seats in south west London, but it may not prove to be so in fact.

Liberal Democrat strength in local elections in the borough of Richmond seems to have peaked. The party lost six council seats to the Tories in Twickenham in 1998 and their lead (4.5%) in the seat was less than at the general election. This is a reversal of the pattern in previous elections, and contrasts with the picture in Sutton borough. In Euro 1999 the Lib Dems trailed behind Labour in third place in Twickenham, with Labour's share of the vote rising by 6% since 1997, a sign that the Lib Dem hold is dependent on tactical voting.

Vincent Cable, the MP, was a special adviser to John Smith when Smith was in the Labour Cabinet in the 1970s, but then joined the SDP. He is one of the leading Liberal Democrat economic thinkers. His main challenger is Tory candidate Nick Longworth who replaces defeated MP Toby Jessel.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Liberal Democrat majority 4,281 (7.4%)  Conservative target 58
MP Vincent Cable
1997 (Turnout 78.1%)
Liberal Democrat	26,237	45.1%
Conservative	21,956	37.8%
Labour	9,065	15.6%
Others	886	1.5%

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For Twickenham 2001 Election result - click here.