DID you stay up for Enfield Southgate? The humiliation of Michael Portillo was the talismanic moment of the 1997 election when a beaming Stephen Twigg crushed one of the leading Conservatives of his generation.

Eight years on, it was the career of Mr Twigg, one of Labour’s rising stars, that came crashing down.

The Conservatives had urged voters to wipe the smile off Tony Blair’s face but Mr Twigg was left with the longest face in politics after becoming the party’s most senior ministerial casualty of the night.

The moment at 3.02am when Mr Twigg’s victory was declared in 1997 was replayed over and over and even inspired a book: Were You Up For Portillo?

Now still only 38, Mr Twigg had worked his constituency assiduously following the rout of Mr Portillo’s 15,545 majority. In 2001 Mr Twigg embedded himself in the bellwhether North London seat with a greatly increased majority and earned himself a job as a junior education minister in the last Parliament.

He rose to the post of Schools Minister, knocking on the door of the Cabinet. Now he may well be seeking out Mr Portillo, with whom he became friends, for advice on the future for ex-ministers.

Mr Twigg, who joined the Labour Party at the age of 15, was the first pupil from his comprehensive to obtain a place at Oxford University where he studied politics, philosophy and economics at Balliol. He became president of the National Union of Students in 1990. Two years later he was elected as a councillor in Islington in North London, and lost narrowly when he ran for the leadership of the council in 1996. Elected to Parliament as an openly gay candidate in 1997, he was listed that year at number 23 in the top 500 lesbian and gay heroes in the Pink Paper.

After 2001 Mr Twigg was seen as a rising Labour star and joined the Government as deputy Leader of the Commons. In May 2002 he went to the Department for Education and Skills as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools. Last December he was promoted to Minister of State for Education as Mr Blair filled gaps created by David Blunkett’s resignation as Home Secretary. Head teachers welcomed Mr Twigg’s promotion. David Hart, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "I am impressed with Stephen Twigg as a minister."

It all came crashing down at 2.45am this morning when Mr Twigg’s Labour 5,546 majority evaporated. During the campaign, Mr Twigg was asked if he was ready to step up to the Cabinet. "If I win, I would love to do the job I am doing now," he said. "It is going to be close. This is a traditional Conserv ative seat. It is a two-horse race." His caution was well-placed.

Southgate is the most affluent of the three constituencies in Enfield borough in North London with an ageing population, three quarters owner-occupying. It was 114 on the Tories’ target list for the 2005 election. But there had been signs during the campaign that outer London boroughs had responded to the Conservative focus on tax cuts, tighter immig ration controls and "sending Tony Blair a message".

Mr Twigg had been instantly popular locally and seemed to remain so until the last, meaning his defeat signified much more about the popularity of Labour nationally.

Labour had recognised that he was in danger, and on April 14 he received a visit from Tony Blair — but it was not enough to save him. Mr Twigg had campaigned on his "local boy" links to Enfield Southgate.

On his website he said: "I grew up here, I live here and I have been your MP for the past eight years. The thing I enjoy most is working with local people to make where we all live a better place.

"I will always listen to everyone’s concerns and I will always tackle the issues which matter most to local people." His nemesis this morning was David Burrowes, a young solicitor and local councillor, who has beaten Mr Twigg at his own game by wearing out shoe-leather and knocking on doors.

Beaming in the style of a 1997 Twigg after winning by a margin of 1,747 votes, Mr Burrowes told his voters: "This has been a truly dreadful night for Labour."

Not too dreadful, perhaps, for the national part that won Mr Blair an historic third term. But truly disastrous for the iconic ex-MP for Enfield Southgate, destined to become indelibly linked not only to the Labour landslide but also the beginning of the Conservative revival in the South which saw it regain a number of key outer London boroughs.

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