I was really sorry that Susan Kramer was beaten by Zac Goldsmith's millions in Richmond Park last night. Enough said.

But, of course, I am delighted that Edward Davey got back in with only a small dent to his majority. At the count last night I learned that Helen Whately's objective was to halve his majority of nearly 9000, but in the end it only dropped by just over 1400. She was a strong candidate - better than any the Conservatives have put up for many, many years - but Edward has done the work and it is obvious on the doorstep that he is highly respected across the constituency.

I got home at 5.30am this morning after a 24 hour election stint. The counting process was very long because all the voting papers in all the ballot boxes for the local and Parliamentary elections first had to be bundled, and the totals checked against the polling officers' records. Inevitably some ballots were placed in the wrong box, which was why they had to check all of them before starting the proper count.

The local elections ballots will be counted this afternoon from 2.30pm. From what I spotted last night it looks as though there will close contests in several wards, so the count could go on for some time. You should be able to follow the results live as they are announced on the Council's website.

Back to the Westminster results. I'm pleased to hear that Sarah Teather has gained Brent Central. This a new constituency and she was up against a minister, Dawn Butler, so it was expected to be a tough fight. In the end Sarah won with a notional 11% swing.

One that I was very sad to lose was Julia Goldsworthy in Cambourne and Redruth who lost by 66 votes. I've known Julia since she was a researcher for Matthew Taylor. She is a very bright, sparky woman who was developing well as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Local Government. I've been working with her recently on the party's localism policy.

Lynne Featherstone is another MP that I have worked with and she pleasingly increased her majority in Hornsey and Wood Green.

Someone asked me yesterday if Cllr Rachel Reid was my daughter. She isn't, but she is the daughter of another councillor, Kevin O'Connor.

Rachel has been on the council for 8 years, representing Grove ward. During that time she married and changed her name. At that point instead of having two O'Connors and two Reids, we had just one O'Connor and three Reids. Of course, we all got each other's post from time to time.

Since the last election Rachel has moved with her husband to Chessington South. So she has decided to stand there, replacing her father who is standing down.

If you think that is confusing I have to tell you that there are four Reid families closely involved with the Lib Dems in Chessington - and we are not related! Apart from Ian and me, and Rachel, the Chair and Secretary of the Chessington North and Hook branch are Reids (they are married to each other) and the Vice Chair is yet another Reid.

From The Independent ...

The first-past-the-post voting system that we use for Parliamentary elections works very well if there are only two main parties. Most voters select one or other, and a handful exercise their right to support tiny minority parties. The party with the most seats will almost certainly, in this case, represent the majority of voters in the country.

But the UK has not been a two party state for some time now. Over the last 30 years or so, Liberal Democrats have been gradually increasing their share of the vote, up to around 20%-24%. In Scotland and Wales, the SNP and Plaid Cymru are serious contenders as well.

The voting system is no longer fit for purpose. The recent growth of support for the Liberal Democrats has shown this only too well.

The Observer yesterday looked at some possible outcomes of the election, starting with the case where Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats all gain 30% of the popular vote, with the remaining 10% given to others.

Although each party would be equally popular, Conservative would gain 206 seats, Labour 315 seats (almost an outright majority) and Liberal Democrats 100 seats.

This bizarre outcome is because Labour and Conservative have each consolidated their position in a large number of safe seats in geographically distinct areas. In contrast, support for the Liberal Democrats is spread widely across all parts of the country.

How about this outcome, which is roughly in line with some of the opinion polls: Conservative 33%, Lib Dem 30% and Labour 27%. What then?

Unbelievably, although lowest in popularity, Labour would gain the most seats with 262. The Conservatives would come second with 257. Faced with that result I can't imagine that the Tories would still uphold their opposition to electoral reform.

And where would the Lib Dems be? They would get exactly 102 seats.

So, although the Tories would beat Lib Dems by 3% they would get 155 more seats.

As The Observer comments: "Beyond parody"

Electoral reform - or fair votes - is essential if democracy is to survive in a three sided contest. That is why electoral reform is the unwavering requirement that Liberal Democrats would take into any post-election negotiations.

David Cameron was still saying today that first-past-the-post serves the country well.

No, it doesn't. But this time the voters are far more aware of the unfairness than ever before. If, after the election, the outcome is similar to either of those that I have quoted, then the voters will simply not accept the unrepresentative result in Westminster.

There will be a chance to hear all the Parliamentary candidates for Kingston & Surbiton on Thursday. A hustings meeting will be held at the Kings Centre, in Coppard Gardens from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

Each candidate will be allowed to make a statement about their policies, then members of the audience will be able to ask them questions.

Do go along if you'd like to hear what they want to achieve in the constituency.

The freezing conditions this winter produced potholes everywhere around the country, including round here. The roads that suffered most were the ones that were already taking the strain of buses. So the Council is steadily resurfacing the most severely damaged roads and filling in potholes around the Borough.

Next in line are Stormont Way and the remaining stretch of Woodgate Avenue. They will both be done between Tuesday and Thursday next week, during the daytime.

So, the Conservatives and Labour parties have been surprised to discover that the Lib Dems are - wait for it - popular. But they don't know how to deal with it.

One thing for sure, both parties are now scouring through our manifesto to find policies that they can disagree with.

So if you're wondering what our policies really are, here is something to watch.

... but you have to do it by 5pm this Tuesday.

You can download the form from the bottom of this page on the Council website.

Fill it in and sign it. Then you can post it to the Guildhall (if you can trust the post at this late stage), return it in person, or fax it to 020 8547 5099. Alternatively, you can scan in the completed form and email it as an attachment to electoral.services@rbk.kingston.gov.uk.

If you have already registered then you should have received a polling card. If that hasn't arrived then phone Electoral Services at the Guildhall on 020 8547 5026, and ask them to check.

Sometimes polling cards are misdelivered, and you don't need to have one in order to vote, provided you are registered. But you don't want to turn up at the polling station and find that your name is not on the list, so you would be wise to check.

Slightly busy with the election at the moment!

But I did find time to watch Paxman's interview of Nick Clegg on Tuesday. Interestingly Brown and Cameron had both refused to be interviewed by the terrifying Paxo, but having seen Nick's robust performance they have now realised that they have to submit as well or look like cowards.

During Clegg's interview Paxo produced one of our local leaflets about the Save Kingston Hospital campaign. He tried to suggest that, by supporting our campaign, Nick was wrong-footing similar campaigns in other areas. The response was straightforward - he supported all campaigns against reductions in vital services to patients. The Kingston campaign was rather special to him because his own child was born at Kingston Hospital.

And yesterday our national manifesto was launched. No great secrets there since the policies of the Liberal Democrats, unlike the other parties, are decided by its members in open debate at conference. The pressing need to sort out the economy does mean that some long-held aspirations have been put on hold, but they have not been dropped.

We are focussing on four main themes, all designed to 'build a fairer Britain':

• We will cut tax on low and middle earners - so no-one pays income tax on the first £10,000 - worth an average of £700 a year.
• We will give every child the fair start they deserve, by reducing class sizes and increasing one to one tuition in our schools.
• We will rebalance the economy, to create 'green' taxes for a fairer, more sustainable future.
• We will build a cleaner, fairer politics, where every vote counts and where voters can sack corrupt MPs.

We are the only party whose policies are fully costed. You can read the full manifesto, with the costings, on the Liberal Democrat website.

Roll on the live debate this evening!