Stamp gaffe had Tim licked

If it was "The Sun wot won it" for John Major in 1992, it was a council clerk who lost it for Tim Collins, the former Tory education spokesman, in 2005. Mr Collins lost his seat in Westmorland and Lonsdale to the Lib Dems by 267 votes. Now the Tories claim that 3,000 postal votes - 2,000 of which were in Mr Collins's favour - were disallowed because someone had forgotten to give them the official stamp. "Don't worry, he'll be back," says one Tory source.