Pressure on Clegg as Lib Dem vote is bled dry by Tory landslide

Leader Nick Clegg was facing renewed pressure after his party came third in the poll with 14.6 per cent of the vote.

They appeared to have failed totally to secure votes from traditional Labour supporters, the vast majority of whom turned to the Tories instead.

Third place: Liberal Democrat candidate Elizabeth Shenton with shadow minister Simon Hughes during last night's count

There had been high hopes of coming second in the poll but in fact it turned into a bleak night for Mr Clegg and his candidate Elizabeth Shenton.

On just 6,040, she was way behind the top two candidates and scored less than half the number of votes received by Labour's Tamsin Dunwoody.

Her final tally was also less than a third of the massive 20,539 votes awarded to Tory Edward Timpson who romped home with a majority of almost 8,000.

Overall, the Lib Dem showing was down more than four per cent while Labour's was down 18 per cent and the Tories up a huge 17 per cent.

Lord Rennard, the party's chief executive, insisted the results were still 'really rather robust' today because the party had always been in third place in the seat.

A party that begins in third place 'rarely does well in a by-election', he told the BBC.

He claimed the party was not worried about the Tory resurgence damaging their prospects still further, claiming last night's victory was all about punishing Labour.

'Having been in Crewe a lot over the last few weeks, the feeling very much was against the Labour government and against the 10p tax change in particular. It was not actually for the Conservatives in any way,' he said.

The peer claimed it was his party rather than the Tories who had made inroads into traditional Labour heartlands in the local elections earlier this month.

Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman, speaking to the BBC's Daily  Politics, also claimed people had been voting against Labour rather than 'pro-Tory'.

Fellow Lib Dem Ed Davey added that Labour had 'had it coming' after the Government's decision to scrap the 10p tax rate.

He told GMTV: 'With the economic climate turning down, the voters used this to punish Labour.'

In her speech last night, Ms Shenton claimed she had not met anyone during her campaign who actually wanted a Tory government.

Criticising the 10p tax decision, she said: 'You need to know that you were very wrong when you supported a budget that taxed people on ordinary incomes more than the rich.

'The people who elected a Labour government did not expect it to behave like a Conservative one.'

The Tory victory in Crewe was the first time they have won a by-election from Labour since 1978.