AS the dust settles on a marathon election night in Harrow, reporter Tristan Kirk takes a look back at the evening and early morning's events.

The bookies and the pollsters all had Tony McNulty down as a safe bet to lose his seat in 2010, and so it proved to be.

The former Harrow East MP was one of the last candidates to arrive at Byron Hall for the count, as the votes were being furiously checked and tallied by scores of volunteers.

Mr McNulty was in typically bullish form, refusing to make a prediction on the outcome of his election and slamming those who did as arrogant.

But after a tough twelve months with the expenses scandal, a resignation from government, and a strong push by the Tories, the writing seemed to be on the wall.

Just after 7am this morning, the result which had been widely predicted was announced, Tory Bob Blackman had taken the seat from Labour with a majority of more than 3,000.

The two rival candidates who have sparred verbally for the last three years were gracious both in victory and defeat, although still managing to disagree about the national election picture.

Mr Blackman, who staked his political future on winning this election, was one of the last to leave the hall but did it feeling thoroughly satisfied with the night's result.

There were contrasting fortunes for Mr McNulty's Labour colleague in Harrow West, Gareth Thomas.

Again, the tipsters were proved to be correct and at 6am Mr Thomas was returned for his fourth term as MP for the borough.

Dr Rachel Joyce put up a spirited challenge for the Conservatives, but ultimately she was unable to get the votes to pull off what would have been a significant coup for her party.

The last word on the night's events went to an exasperated Mayor of Harrow Eric Silver, who declared this to be Harrow's longest ever election count.

There were escalating grumblings across the hall that things had not run as smoothly as hoped, and a long night had turned into a test of endurance.

Most of those who stayed to cheer their MP elect home or commiserate the defeated candidate are back here today, waiting to see if they will have a seat on Harrow Council for the next four years.

Over the next few hours, the make up of the local authority will be decided, and most are hoping the picture is a lot clearly than the one MPs are facing this morning.