the conservatives have held the seat of old bexley and sidcup in yesterday's by—election, but with a reduced majority. their candidate, louie french, won more than half the votes in the south—east london constituency, with labour in second. but the conservatives' majority has been cut from nearly 19,000 votes to 4,500. mr french paid tribute to the mpjames brokenshire, whose death in october triggered the contest. the boss of the mercedes formula 1 team, toto wolff, has offered to meet survivors of the grenfell tower disaster, following anger from survivors of a sponsorship deal between his team and a company which made insulation used on the building. kingspan's branding is on the car that seven—times world champion lewis hamilton is driving at this weekend's saudi arabian grand prix. the firm's insulation was installed on a small portion of grenfell tower — but kingspan says it was used without its knowledge. the actor sir antony sher has died, aged 72. sir antony, who had cancer,