The Conservatives are toasting another victory in Canterbury and Whitstable this morning after Julian Brazier secured his seventh straight election win.

The 61-year-old Tory polled 22,918 votes, beating his closest challenger, Labour’s Hugh Lanning, by 9,798 votes.

Ukip’s Jim Gascoyne came third with 7,289.

The Lib Dems, with James Flanagan, suffered a remarkable fall from grace, dropping from second to fourth, polling a 6,227.

Green Party candidate Stuart Jeffery was a comfortable fifth with 3,746, while Robert Cox, of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, was sixth with 165.

Ballot boxes arrived at the Westgate Hall in Canterbury at 10pm, with the result expected to be the first revealed in Kent at 2am.

But returning officer Colin Carmichael did not announce the outcome until 4.35am.

Speaking straight after the result was revealed, Mr Brazier said: “After thinking about it, people have decided they want to see the economic growth go on.”