There was disappointment for two Kent MPs last night as both failed in their bid to get a deputy speaker’s job in the new Parliament.

Helen Grant, MP for the Maidstone and Malling constituency, and Sir Roger Gale, MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich, had both put their hats in the ring for the prestigious position supporting the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, who was himself re-elected earlier this month for a third term.

Sir Roger had served as a deputy speaker for the last government.

Under Parliamentary rules, three deputy speakers had to be appointed - one from the government benches and two from the opposition, meaning that in theory both Mrs Grant and Sir Roger could have been elected to the post.

But there were six other candidates for MPs to choose from when they voted by secret ballot yesterday using a transferable voting system.

First to be elected was Labour’s Judith Cummings, who gained 184 votes in the first round.

As Ms Cummings is a Labour member, that meant that her party colleague, Sharon Hodgson, was excluded from later voting rounds because there was no further room for a candidate from the Government side.

Further rounds of voting saw MPs Wendy Morton and Helen Grant knocked out in the third stage, with 17 and 45 votes respectively.

Sir Roger was knocked out on 72 votes in the fourth round.

In the final round, Dame Karen Bradley fell at the final hurdle with 113 votes, leaving Nusrat Ghani, MP for Sussex Weald, and Caroline Noakes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, to be elected with 132 and 122 votes respectively.

That means three of the four people in the speaker’s team are women, although only 41% of MPs are female.

Mrs Grant had previously expressed her hope of becoming the country’s first black deputy speaker, but instead Ms Ghani becomes the first ethnic minority MP to sit in the speaker’s chair.

Born in Kashmir to Pakistani parents, Ms Ghani is a Muslim who grew up in Birmingham.

Sir Roger said afterwards: “My thanks to those many colleagues who supported me in my bid for the deputy speakership and my congratulations to my fellow colleagues who were elected.

“I am saddened that I was not able to deliver for you on this occasion, but I shall still be there when needed - as before!”