Conservative grandee Iain Duncan Smith has won his seat despite a ferocious Labour campaign targeted the key Boris Johnson ally.
The former Tory leader and architect of Welfare reform held on to his marginal outer London seat after weeks and weeks of heated campaigning.
He secured 23,481 votes in the election, beating Labour on 22,419 - a majority of 1,062.
Both Labour and the Conservatives poured resources into the seat with IDS defending a majority of just 2,438 from 2017.
A sign of Tory fears over the seat was evident in the final week - with the Prime Minister scrambling to campaign in the seat on the final Sunday of the campaign.
Labour's Faiza Shaheen targeted the IDS's weak points with a campaign focused on spelling out the failure of the former Tory minister's flagship Universal Credit scheme - and the suffering it has brought to his own constituency.
Overturning his 2,438 majority will be seen by millions as poetic justice.
Speaking to the Mirror during the campaign Faiza said: “Symbolically, I think it would mean a lot, to a lot of people.”
Millionaire IDS is the architect of welfare ‘reforms’ including Universal Credit , the bedroom tax, and a myriad of disability cuts, who symbolises the cruelty of nine years of Tory government.
Faiza’s mum, Nuzhat, a laboratory researcher, relied on disability benefits to survive while she was waiting for a heart transplant, and is one of those who were humiliatingly reassessed.
Mr Duncan Smith has held the seat since 1992 - before that, it was the stronghold of Thatcherite hardliner Norman Tebbit.
Labour poured resources in with big campaign days organised by Momentum but the seat was also a focus for tactical voting campaigns.
Actor Hugh Grant has canvassed alongside Ms Shaheen in the constituency, in a tour that saw him also back Lib Dem and Independents.
Mr Duncan Smith saw himself targeted by opponents during the campaign with his office being attacked and, a dead and decaying rat being sent to him in the post.
