Veteran Sir Roger Gale has narrowly held on to his seat in one of the toughest tests of his political career.

Exit polls predicted a shock Labour victory in the newly created Herne Bay and Sandwich seat when it was announced as polling stations shut at 10pm last night.

But Sir Roger has held the constituency, previously named North Thanet which he has represented for more than 40 years for the Conservatives.

Campaigners from both the main parties earlier in the night said the vote had been “very tight” and did not rule out the possibility of a recount as the result was the final one to be declared in Kent - at 7am.

Sir Roger’s win bucked the national trend for the Tories on a disastrous night for the party which has seen Labour sweep to victory across Kent and the rest of the country.

He secured 17,243 votes seeing off Labour candidate Helen Whitehead who polled 14,744.

Reform came in third with Amelia Randall securing 10,602 votes.

Sir Roger told KentOnline he is “delighted” to win but conceded it was “tight”.

“There are a lot of new members on both sides of the house and we have lost a lot of good people,” he said.

“But there will be good people coming in and I reckon my job as a veteran is to try to answer questions and help them do the job for the people we represent.”

The Tory blasted Nigel Farage’s party Reform UK, saying he is “worried about the rise of populism across Europe”.

“There is no role for the Conservative Party pretending they are Reform-lite and veering off to the right,” he added.

“We have always been traditionally a One Nation, centrist party - that is our home base, where we belong and that is where we shall stay.”

Labour is celebrating huge wins over the Tories in Kent, with the Lib Dems also picking up their first-ever seat in the county.

The victories come amid a Labour landslide nationally - putting Keir Starmer in Downing Street with a huge majority.

New Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells Mike Martin described the night’s results as a “political earthquake” in Kent.

In Kent, Labour have won 11 seats, the Conservatives have kept hold of six and the Lib Dems have gained one.

It means the Tories have lost in 10 seats in the county they previously held - and even came third in Dover, with Reform finishing second.

Reflecting on a difficult night for the Tories locally, Kent County Council cabinet member Neil Baker said: “Roger has been a stalwart for the party and has done a huge amount.

“You do not have to go far for people to tell their tales of how they have supported him, as well as their kids, grandchildren and parents.

“There still might be a surprise in the Herne Bay and Sandwich seat.

“I am still relatively confident - given what I have heard on the doorsteps of this campaign - Sir Roger may buck the national trend.”

Cllr Baker does not believe the results spell the end of Conservatism in Kent.

“I remember being here in 2017 when Labour won Canterbury for the first time and it was the longest seat held by one party in the country,” he added.

“Politics is a pendulum - tonight Labour are going to have it swinging their way, but at some point, it will swing back.

“It will not be tomorrow, it might not be the next general election but it will be in the future.”

Counting for the Herne Bay and Sandwich seat took place at Westgate Hall in Canterbury.

Earlier in the night, Labour candidate Helen Whitehead’s election agent said the party was close to clinching victory.

David Donaldson, also a Westgate-on-Sea town councillor, said: “We have worked very hard on a six-week campaign but it is going to be close.

“I was quite surprised by the number of Reform votes predicted, which does take votes away from the Conservatives but also a portion from Labour.”

A chunk of Thanet remains part of the electoral area of Herne Bay and Sandwich, including Westgate-on-Sea and Birchington-on-Sea and surrounding villages.

Sir Roger has been the MP for North Thanet since Margaret Thatcher won her second term in 1983.

He emerged from the 2019 election with a powerful 17,189 majority but it has not always been smooth sailing.

Labour has traditionally been his greatest competition and ran him closest in 1997 when Tony Blair swept to power with a landslide victory.

That year, Sir Roger’s majority was slashed by almost 16,000 to a slender 2,766.

With an average age of 54.5 in the constituency, the older demographic is likely to be significant too as they traditionally favour the Tories.

Sir Roger, 80, is popular locally and seen as a high-profile, accessible figure who is not afraid to speak out on key issues - even if that means disagreeing with his party.

And that includes his memorable challenges to Boris Johnson’s leadership when he was prime minister.

It has won him begrudging admiring glances from those who do not subscribe to the Tory manifesto and makes him a far tougher nut to crack.

He has also been an outspoken advocate of Manston Airport - perhaps the area’s most contentious political hot potato.

A previous threat to resign if it was barred from being reopened now appears to have disappeared given its recent green light, which will carry weight with the electorate.

The bulk who oppose it lies under its flight path in Ramsgate, which lies in the neighbouring East Thanet constituency.

Elsewhere, Herne Bay’s failure to secure much-longed-for funding to regenerate its seafront after a last-minute rule change by the government may leave a bitter taste in the mouth of many.

And there was uproar over the Spanish-style plaza which blocked traffic from part of the seafront in the town until it was recently scrapped. Ushered in by the Tory-led Kent County Council, could that play on voters’ minds?

Yet it is the diverse make-up of the constituency - pulling in areas which sit under Canterbury, Thanet and Dover councils - which make unifying national trends difficult to discern.

With the surrounding villages tending to be Conservative voters, it is hard to see Sir Roger being toppled.

However, he will have witnessed Labour taking control of Thanet District Council last year and that may give him pause for thought.

But the council is one of the most fickle, changing colour regularly both when voters head to the polls and even mid-term.

The Liberal Democrats and Greens will both field candidates but have historically been unable to compete against the Tory or Labour candidates.

The Conservatives have held the seat - in its various guises, boundaries and name changes - since the 19th century.

But could we witness a historical moment for the area?