THE Conservatives stormed to victory in Penrith and the Border on Friday with a majority of 11,241 votes.

Candidate Rory Stewart was officially declared the constituency's new MP at around 2.30pm to whoops and cheers from his campaign team.

Penrith and the Border was one of the last results in the country to be announced.

This is the first time 37-year-old Mr Stewart - a former human rights professor at Harvard University and a governor of an Iraqi province - has stood as a candidate and looked nervous as the morning's count unfolded.

Delivering his victory speech, Mr Stewart said: "I hope with your support I can be an independent minded member of parliament for a very, very independent minded consituency. Whoever anybody voted for, I am here for you."

"I will now dedicate myself absolutely to Penrith and the Border and I will have my permanent home here and I will hold regular surgeries."

He added the constituency had for too long been neglected by the interests of city dwellers. "I will be fighting for our rural communities, for our services, for our farmers, small businesses and the vulnerable, elderly, our schools and hospitals," he said.

Taking into consideration the boundary changes since 2005's election which removed traditional Conservative areas of Wetheral, Scotby and Thirsby from Penrith and the Border, Mr Stewart actually increased the Conservative majority by 3,000.

He took 53.4 per cent of the vote cast in this year's election compared to 51.3 per cent under David Maclean in 2005.

The turnout was 70.4%, almost a five per cent increase on 2005's election.

Liberal Democrat candidate Peter Thornton came in second with 12,830 votes and commended Mr Stewart on his campaign.

Mr Thornton said he was looking forward to working with Mr Stewart as he continued in his role as a county councillor for Kirkby Stephen.

Labour's Barbara Cannon gained 5,834 votes - a drop of around 2,500 since 2005.

Chris Davidson of the BNP received 1,093 and John Stanyer of UKIP got 1,259 votes.

Mr Stewart takes over from former Conservative MP David Maclean who has held the seat for 27 years.

Mr Stewart headed to the Conservative Club in Penrith for an afternoon celebration and spent Saturday on a 30 mile walk, to 'clear his head'.

Today he is meeting with the Conservative Party at Westminster.

Rory Stewart: key aims

> Nearly 78% of people in Penrith and the Border live in a remote community and Mr Stewart is keen to protect this way of life by fighting for traditional community hubs like village schools, cottage hospitals, pubs and post offices. He wants to improve broadband speeds and mobile phone network coverage to stop the constituency from falling behind.

“This region is being challenged by a lack of communication.”

> A key economic priority for Mr Stewart will be protecting the interests of small businesses as they drive the local economy. He said he will defend the rights of farmers, food-producers, the tourist industry and all businessmen in Cumbria.

“We have very high employment but low wages. People are struggling and it is a very fragile system that needs to be properly preserved.”

> Mr Stewart is passionate about letting people lead their own lives, free from the current system which he perceives as one of micro-management and over-regulation.

He said: “I’m about placing empowerment at the local level. People are deterred from going into the voluntary sector due to the weight of compliance, paper work and regulation ”

Rory Stewart: the CV

> Roderick James Nugent Stewart was born in Hong Kong. He grew up in Malaysia and Crieff in Perthshire. His mother is a teacher and his father a former soldier and civil servant.

> He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford, Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied modern history and politics, philosophy and economics.

> From 2000-2002 he walked on foot across Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Nepal, a journey of 6,000 miles.

> He lived in Afghanistan from 2006-2008, where he was the founder of Turquoise Mountain, a non-Governmental organisation investing in the development of the country’s traditional crafts to create economic opportunities for people living in Kabul.

- He was appointed as the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard University on January 1 2009, a post he resigned from to become the Conservative candidate for Penrith and the Border.