Gavin Barwell clung on to his Croydon Central seat by the narrowest of margins following a nail-baiting recount this morning. 

The Conservative MP beat Labour rival Sarah Jones by just 165 votes in one of the most fiercely contested seats in yesterday's general election. 

He won after surviving a recount and despite Mrs Jones adding 5,900 votes to the Labour's 2010 election tally.

Mr Barwell polled 22,753 votes, more than 3,000 than his result five years ago. 

Both candidates, as well as many members of their parties, were in tears as a long and tense election night came to an emotional conclusion.

Speaking after the result was announce, Mr Barwell said: "I'm elated and completely exhausted. 

"I got feedback from the count that we were just ahead but it was never enough ahead to feel completely confident."

He added: "We lost the council a year ago and it was obvious that we had a real battle on our hands.

"It just required an incredible amount of hard work."

He added: "The results across London have not been good for my party and I think it reflects really well on my team that we've managed to hold this seat when we had good MPs who didn't hold their seat."

Mrs Jones's team requested a recount shortly before 4.30am after initial results put Mr Barwell ahead by a tiny margin.

She said: "We thought we were just ahead because we knew lots and lots of new people were voting Labour, but not quite enough.

"We lost, so there is always going to be questions about what was the right thing to do, but I think running a positive campaign was the right thing to do. 

"Gaining 6,000 votes in a seat is great and we knew we were doing that as we went along, which is why we thought we were just ahead. But it turned out to be just not quite enough."

Full Croydon Central results

Gavin Barwell (Conservative) 22,753

Sarah Jones  (Labour) 22,588

Peter Staveley (Ukip) 4,810

Esther Sutton (Green) 1,414

James Fearnley (Lib Dem) 1,152

April Ashley (TUSC) 127

Martin Camden (UK Progressive Democratic) 57