EVERY Thursday on the Instagram social network, users post pictures from the past, under the hashtag #TBT or #ThrowBackThursday. So, with the general election drawing closer, here’s a TBT peek back at that grandstand three-way fight in Hampstead and Kilburn back in 2010.

1. THE CHRIS PHILP PICTURE THAT WENT VIRAL.

Without doubt, this was the photo that got the most looks, views, likes and shares. Conservative candidate Chris Philp organised a bombardment of the constituency by sitting Tory MPs. The plan was to get them out door-knocking in a big blue swarm. When they posed for a photo, the estate agent sign in the background ‘Cameron Stiff and Co’ worked as a caption his rivals would have chosen themselves.

2. ED IN THE VAULT

Liberal Democrat candidate Ed Fordham revealed where all those endless yellow leaflets were printed – in the vault below the Rosslyn Hill church, where, as it happens, he would one day marry his husband, Russell Eagling. In the church, not the vault. Hustings went on above ground, with Ed’s rivals unaware that the risograph below was pumping out Lib Dem material around the clock.

3. DAVID MILIBAND ARRIVES

Glenda Jackson was accused of not being seen in the constituency enough, but come election time – on went the red battle coat and up came the Foreign Secretary to rally the troops. Nobody was to mention Iraq.

4. CLEGG’S TANK ON GLENDA’S LAW

THE Liberal Democrats scented victory in Hampstead and Kilburn so Nick Clegg began his final push in the constituency. Local members queued to have their picture in front of his big yellow bus.

5. LIB DEMS TRY TO OUT-LEFTY LABOUR IN H&K

THE Liberal Democrats were trying to capture left-leaning voters who had become disenchanted with Labour. But if Glenda Jackson still represented ‘old Labour’ – and there’s a debate to be had as to whether she did or didn’t – how could Clegg and co sidestep her leftyness. The party leader:  “I can remember 1997. I didn’t vote for Tony Blair but I can understand the hope and excitement that people felt, the mood that things were going to change. That mood has changed back now. People in areas like this feel Labour has let them down over the last 13 years.” 

6. AND EVERYBODY WITH A YELLOW ROSETTE APPLAUDED

7. ALASTAIR AND TULIP

THE close battle meant high-profile figures were always on the patch. Labour hauled in Alastair Darling for duty. In this one, you can see Tulip Siddiq, the new Labour candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, coming into view. 

8. THE HECKLING HISTORIAN

BORIS Johnson set up a soapbox in West End Lane, West Hampstead, to take questions on behalf of Conservative challenger Chris Philp. We never did get to the bottom as to why historian David Cesarani was heckling from the pavement.

9. CHRIS PHILP TALKS TACTICS WITH BORIS

10. ON YOUR BIKE

THE London Mayor does his campaign duty and cycles away with photographers chasing him down the road. There’s a quick salute to the fans.

11. ALTOGETHER, HEAD TO HEAD

Ed Fordham took on Chris Philp, Glenda Jackson and the Green candidate, writer Beatrix Campbell at hustings in Hampstead.

12. MRS CLEGG

THEREwas some idea that Nick Clegg could somehow take high office and the newspapers would not be interested in his wife, Miriam. She was kept out of the limelight for a while and it was a bit of a scoop for the times, when the New Journal snapped her around Flick Rea’s house.

13. MR AARONOVITCH, CAN I COUNT ON YOUR SUPPORT

THE ever-optimistic Chris Philp tries his luck with Times columnist David Aaronovitch as he comes out of Hampstead tube station.

14. THE PM IN THE PUB

ONE of the interesting things about the 2010 election was that, despite the closeness of battle, Conservative Prime Minister-to-be David Cameron never made an official outing to the constituency during the campaign. We were wondering whether Gordon Brown would for Labour when on the last weekend before the polls, he suddenly appeared at the North London Tavern in Kilburn. Did he help secure those extra 42 votes that propelled Glenda over the line?

15. FIIIIIGHT

GORDON Brown’s visit to Kilburn was a poorly-kept secret and outside the bar, Labour and Lib Dem supporters clashed in a placard war. 

16. LOOK BEHIND YOU, TWO

CHRIS Philp was getting a bit sick of the CNJ’s Tom Foot’s photos. He had been responsible for the first photo in this list. Here, Gordon Brown’s grinning faces intrudes on Justine Greening’s visit to West End Lane.

17. TORIES TOLD TO SWITC

One of the things that made the Conservatives most angry about the final run-in was the Daily Mail’s voting guide published on the day of the election. It advised Tory voters to ‘engineer a Labour defeat by switching to Lib Dem Ed Fordham’ – catastrophic advice for the Conservative cause when you look at the final scores and how close Chris Philp came to winning.

18. JUST VOTED

A SET-UP shot, Chris Philp and his wife walk out of a polling station in Hampstead on voting day.

19. OH, TAMSIN

CLIMATE Rush demonstrator Tamsin Omond was quite the headline grabber back in 2010 after scaling the House of Commons in once demonstration. She stood as independent but lost her deposit. People wondered why she was standing against the Greens’ Bea Campbell, whose views she seemed to have a lot of time for. She was last seen at the Greens’ election launch for Natalie Bennett in Holborn and St Pancras. Regular UKIP canidate Magnus Nielsen is also on the stage in this photo.

20. GLENDA WINS

…but only by 42 votes. The result was declared close to 9am in the sports hall at Haverstock School.

21. MOTHER AND SON

DAN Hodges, the Telegraph columnist, joins the celebrations for his mother as it becomes clear that Glenda Jackson has been re-elected, defying the pundit predictions and bookmaker odds.