Liz Kendall, who was adviser to Patricia Hewitt as health secretary, has won Ms Hewitt’s former seat for Labour.

Labour’s share of the vote in the Leicester West constituency fell by 12.4 per cent from 2005 but Ms Kendall still leads the Conservatives by more than 3,000 votes.

Ms Hewitt was recently caught offering to work for a political lobbying firm, but she had already announced she would not be standing for re-election.

Before her selection to fight the seat earlier this year, Ms Kendall was director of the NHS Confederation’s Ambulance Service Network, and she has published work for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

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Election 2010: a candidate watchlist for the NHS