A "night full of shocks" at the general election has left Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith with two new allies with whom to fight Heathrow expansion, while the Liberal Democrats were left out in the cold.

Mr Goldsmith was re-elected in the early hours of Friday morning after increasing his majority from 4,091 in the 2010 election to 23,015 this year.

While he said he was confident in retaining his seat and glad to be re-elected, the huge increase in the majority was one of many surprises on the night.

He said: "I was quietly confident that I would be re-elected but I was fatalistic about it. I am not sure there was a lot more I could have done. I was not expecting a mandate that size - it is a very moving outcome for me.

"I don’t think negative campaigning by the Lib Dems works around here, I think it backfires."

Mr Goldsmith added he thought Robin Meltzer’s campaign, which included an attack against him, was "the wrong approach" and said the party had chosen "the wrong candidate".

He said: "He [Meltzer] was talking about going back on my word. I used the same language in every bit of literature and over and over again.

"What he was quoting was from an interview two years after the election. He was being deliberately mischievous. People are not stupid - this is one of the most educated constituencies. You can’t take people for fools."

While Mr Goldsmith had previously said Vince Cable could be the "Portillo moment" of this year’s election, he was still left shocked by the outcome, in which Conservative Tania Mathias won with a majority of 2,017.

He said: "I was not expecting Vince Cable to lose his seat - I thought it would be very, very close. I think the Tories chose a really ideal candidate in Tania. She is very well known and respected and so hard working.

"They played a blinder and the same in Kingston with James Berry - a great candidate against a national back drop.

"I was thrilled by the result but if there had been a pang of human sympathy for the two [Lib Dems], it was tempered by their campaign through the election, particularly in Kingston. Some of the literature was scraping the barrel so I was not sorry to see what happened.

"From a personal point of view, I have two allies now."

While not complacent about representing the constituency for another term, Mr Goldsmith said his main priorities locally would be the issue of cycling in the Royal Parks and holding a public meeting with rail providers.

He will also focus on working with Justine Greening, MP for Putney and Secretary of State for international development, to secure funding for Kew Gardens and will continue to campaign against Heathrow expansion.

Mr Goldsmith said: "We do have a stronger government and at least three people in the cabinet, probably more, who are opposed to Heathrow. The decision to go ahead with Heathrow expansion would cause a rift at the high levels of government.

"Vince and I were on the same page about Heathrow and Tania and I are. The difference is, Tania and I won’t be trying to get one up on each other and can have proper conversations on it."

While he was unimpressed with the Liberal Democrats' campaign, Mr Goldsmith had nothing but good things to say about Labour’s candidate Sachin Patel, who increased the share of Labour vote in the Richmond Park constituency from 5 per cent to 12.3 per cent.

He said: "He dispelled this idea that it is a two horse race in Richmond.

"I am really pleased he has done that and I am pleased on a personal level he was rewarded for his campaign. He is a completely wonderful guy and I am a big fan of his."

Reflecting on the election night as a whole, Mr Goldsmith said it was a "night full of shocks".

He added: "It was shocking to see Ed Balls go. It was shocking to see Conservative wins in Twickenham and Kingston.

"The biggest shock was just how wrong the polls were. I thought we would do better than the polls were predicting but I didn’t think it would go that far. It is a great outcome.

"I wanted a majority for my party nationally but I didn’t want a thumping big one because that is not good for democracy."