An OXFORDSHIRE man has been elected in North Dorset after the retirement of MP Bob Walter.

Conservative Simon Hoare, who had represented Witney West and Bampton on Oxfordshire County Council, as well as sitting on West Oxfordshire District Council, took 30,227 votes.

Ukip took 9,109 votes, while the Lib Dems were in third with 6,266 votes.

It would have taken a 22.9 per cent swing for Labour to win a seat in the constituency, and since 1885 - when the seat was created - North Dorset has only been served by two parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals.

Mr Hoare, who lives in Iwerne Minster, is a managing director of Community Connect, his own public affairs agency which works in the property development sector.

In 2010, he fought Cardiff South and Penarth.

He said: "I feel thrilled and humbled.

"This is a huge vote of confidence in both the Tory Party and me as a candidate."

He said his priorities during his term in office would be to ensure "fair funding" for the constituency, seek improvements to the A350, roll-out broadband and better mobile phone coverage, and call for further government support for dairy farmers.

Previous North Dorset MPs have included a polar explorer and Loch Ness monster researcher, a dog breeding expert and Crufts chairman, an expert on cereal crops, four knights, three Etonians, and four Oxonians.