Kent is today waking up to one of the biggest political upsets since Brexit.

US billionaire Donald Trump has won the 270 electoral college seats needed to be declared the 45th president of the United States.

That defies all predictions that Hillary Clinton would become the first female US head of state - and is a seismic political shock.

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It comes after a hard-fought and extensive election campaign, with both sides rocked by scandal and bitter conflict in the election debates.

Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover, expressed his surprise after the night's events.

He tweeted: "If this time last year you'd said (or bet) that we'd now have a new PM, be leaving the EU and Donald Trump would get elected President..."

Nigel Farage, who fought for the South Thanet seat as leader of Ukip during the last general election, congratulated Mr Trump.

Mr Farage, who joined the billionaire on the campaign trail, said: "Many congratulations. You have fought a brave campaign."

He later added: "I am not particularly surprised - the political class is reviled across much of the west; the polling industry is bankrupt and the Press hasn’t woken up to what is happening in the world.

"So 2016 looks like being the year of great political revolutions.

"I thought Brexit was big but boy, this looks like being even bigger.”

Meanwhile, Maidstone and The Weald MP Helen Grant described the result as "a clear verdict from the American people".

She continued: "I hope, however, that Mr Trump will redress the damaging and divisive effects of his campaign which should not be underestimated.

"I also hope our special relationship with the US will continue and that, under his administration, our shared values of diversity, inclusion, multi-culture and equality will endure.

"Finally, I pay tribute to Hillary Clinton for the responsible, restrained and positive nature of her campaign and for blazing the trail for women across the world who aspire to the highest positions of leadership."

Dave Bethell, a voiceover artist from Kent who now lives in Los Angeles, said he was "very surprised" at the night's developments.

He said: "The way the media's been reporting it it just looked like Hillary was walking away with it.

"Obviously in the last week there's been conversations about the emails brought back up and that ruined her lead, but we did not - certainly from my conversations with friends - expect at all for Donald Trump to have such an early lead."

Polling expert Sir Robert Worcester, who lives in Allington Castle, was shocked at the result.

He said: "It's not the result I expected.

"I did expect the Senate not to switch over to Democrats so what you have got this morning is not only a sea of red states - several of which were unexpected - but also the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Congress of the US in deep red."

He said the "jury is out" on how Donald Trump was able to win the election but felt the reopening of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails did decisive damage to her campaign.

"It cost Hillary Clinton three percentage points according to the analysis. This turned out to be a very narrow victory. In state after state of the swing states Trump won by 1% or 2%."

Speaking after Mrs Clinton conceded, but before the final votes had been counted, he said he felt relieved any potential constitutional crisis in the event of split popular and electoral college votes has been avoided, which he warned about earlier this week.

"That's a good thing because for the electoral college to have gone one way and the popular vote to go another would have been a constitutional crisis. That threat has been overcome."

However, it later emerged that Mrs Clinton gained a greater share of the popular vote (48%) than Mr Trump, who won 47% of the vote but 279 crucial electoral college votes.

He said Mr Trump's victory would not affect the special relationship between the US and the UK.

He added: "The special relationship is alive and well. There is no question in my mind, for all his bragging, that Donald Trump will have to take a pretty level headed view about his foreign relations.

"He is not going to build the wall and he is not going to banish great swathes of the Muslim population. He has got to moderate these kinds of things."

Dr Andrew Wroe of the University of Kent's school of politics had previously predicted a Clinton win.

He said: "I am flabbergasted. Shocked.

"It is an absolutely extraordinary result. It is perhaps the single biggest upset in US history ever."

Also reacting to the news is Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who says the United States is in his prayers following a "bitter campaign".

He said: "As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, my continuing prayers are that the United States of America may find reconciliation after a bitter campaign, and that Mr Trump may be given wisdom, insight and grace as he faces the tasks before him.

"Together we pray for all the people of the United States."

He said the polling experts had performed poorly, with many scientists and experts giving Clinton a victory prediction with between 95% and 99% probability.

It comes just days after the effigy of the Republican was burnt at the stake in Edenbridge.