Mr Smith won with a majority of 25,426, fending off strong competition from Labour candidate Tim Lunnon to keep his seat.

On the night Mr Smith seemed very calm throughout. He left the count at the Crawley K2 leisure centre to go home and freshen up, returning clean shaven and very relaxed.

Mr Smith’s working day began at 3.30am on Thursday, finding out the result over 24 hours later.

He said of his campaign: “It has been exhausting but exhilarating. It is a great feeling to be representing the amazing people of Crawley for my seventh year in succession.

“I can’t wait to get back to parliament to address the issues that my constituents face to help them in the future.”

The total electorate in Crawley was 73,425.

Mr Smith began his career as a councillor in Crawley back in 2003.

He was involved in the closest election in Crawley’s history when he lost by 37 votes to his Labour counterpart.

Mr Smith strongly supports Brexit and feels that is the biggest factor that needs addressing in the next government, regardless of who ends up with the majority.

He said: “Brexit is the national priority and we have to make sure we get a good deal for the country.

“Locally, we need to focus on getting Crawley schools equal funding in line with every other school in the country as it is a very unfair balance.”