It was billed as the Brexit election but over weeks of campaigning, the parties crossed swords on a range of other issues.

Political Editor Paul Francis looks back over an electoral tussle overshadowed by two terror attacks.

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When Theresa May took the country by surprise and announced there was to be a snap election, it seemed there might only be one outcome - a comprehensive victory for the Conservatives.

Her appeal for a strong mandate to negotiate the UK’s exit from the EU resonated with voters. And so too did her clarion call for support to form a “strong and stable” government.

Kent MPs were quick to reiterate the soundbite - as well as ensuring anyone within earshot that they were “not taking any vote for granted” and there was “no complacency.”

In the early days, the other parties trailed in Theresa’s wake - caught on the hop and in many constituencies in Kent without any candidates in place.

An early signal of Labour’s possible lack of optimism about the result came in the decision by the three candidates who stood in the notionally marginal Medway seats in 2015 not to stand again.

In other constituencies, Labour and the Lib Dems lost ground even though both compressed their selection processes.

For Ukip, meanwhile, there was the distraction of the question about whether former leader Nigel Farage would stand in South Thanet and take a second tilt at the seat he fought and lost in 2015.

The “will he, won’t he” debate was finally silenced when he confirmed he wouldn’t be standing - a disappointment to some, including the media who relished the prospect of a re-match between him and Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay.

In other candidate news, there was a frisson of excitement when a Labour candidate was announced in Dover and Deal with the surname “Blair”. Surely it couldn’t be, could it?

No, it couldn’t. Tony was not on the comeback trail - despite some wishing that he would - but the job of contesting the seat was left to one Stacey Blair.

Meanwhile, the debate on domestic issues crept up the agenda and from seeming to be unassailable, a few cracks began to appear in the Conservative’s previously well-oiled machine.

Jeremy Corbyn was proving to be a more wily campaigner than perhaps his rivals - some from within his own ranks - expected.

The Prime Minister then delivered her notorious gaffe over the funding of adult social care that put the party on the back foot.

The more she tried to explain the plan, the more confused it became.

Ashford Conservative Damian Green - who has had a role as one of her chief spin doctors - toured the TV studios and radio stations to say there would definitely be no review of the £100,000 cap.

A day later, there came a U-turn with the party, accused of introducing a “dementia tax,” hurriedly trying to find a way to smooth over the problem.

It was a classic mid-campaign wobble that looked at the time to have done lasting damage but for the fact that Labour had its own series of gaffes.

Of these, the car crash interview with Diane Abbott, in which she struggled to come up with the right figures for the party’s plan to put more police on the streets, was the most damaging.

In Kent, meanwhile, the campaign continued but it proved to be so low key as to be virtually invisible.

Unless you count social media posts involving activists and candidates holding up placards, it didn’t seem as though much was happening.

In 2015, visits by what we like to call the party “big hitters” were prodigious. Two years on and VIP visits were virtually non-existent.

The county, always described as key battleground, was being bypassed by the battle buses in favour of more marginal seats in the Midlands and the north.

Theresa May did make one appearance - but as a huge effigy that mysteriously appeared on the White Cliffs of Dover, flicking the “V” sign towards the continent.

For Labour, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry took a trip to Canterbury to rally support for the party in what is not exactly a target seat.

The news that the Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay had been charged over allegations concerning his expenses claims in the 2015 campaign briefly put Kent in the full glare of the election spotlight.

Mr Mackinlay issued a forceful denial and questioned the timing of the announcement but briefly retreated to his bunker to ride out the storm.

UKIP sought to capitalise on the news. Former leader Nigel Farage pointedly made a visit (although his aides insisted that it had been planned for some time).

But by his standards, it was subdued compared to two years ago when the party could fill the auditorium of the Winter Gardens without too much bother.

He ended his visit - where else - in a pub garden with a modest crowd of supporters, jovially posing for the inevitable selfies.

The words “election battle” conjure up images of the parties hurling heavy political artillery at their opponents.

In Kent, the 2017 campaign will go down as one of the more low key contests of recent elections.

And for some suffering from voter fatigue, that may have been no bad thing.

To follow the election results, as they come in for Kent, visit our election site.