Old Bexley and Sidcup byelection: Tories retain true-blue seat

Louie French becomes MP for suburban London seat, but Tories' majority of nearly 19,000 cut to 4,478

The Conservatives have held the safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup in the first in a series of closely watched parliamentary byelections.

Louie French was elected as the new MP, replacing the well-liked former cabinet minister James Brokenshire, who died in October from lung cancer.