Chichester has a new MP as Gillian Keegan voted out in 'momentous moment' for Lib Dems as 100-year-old Conservatives stronghold ended

Mrs Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, became the latest cabinet minister to lose her seat, during the General Election 2024.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, before the news was made official, LBC’s Lewis Goodall said it would be ‘the scalp of the night’ – acknowledging the historic scope of a Liberal Democrat victory in a seat which has been true blue Conservative since 1924.

Jess Brown-Fuller earned 25,540 votes – a convincing victory – with Gillian Keegan getting 13,368 votes.

The new Chichester MP said in her victory speech: “It's a momentous moment. Since 1924 we've only had a Conservative MP.

"I'm glad that people have trusted me. People want to have their faith restored In democracy and in public service because, for the last ten years, I think that faith has been broken. That trust has been broken and I think a lot of Conservative MPs this evening will lose their seats.”

Mrs Keegan said: “I admire anybody who puts themselves forward to stand for parliament, but we all understand how this works albeit if does appear more volatile then ever. I wish everybody in Chichester the best and thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you.”

Teresa De Santis, the Reform candidate, received 7,859 votes; Labour’s Tom Collinge got 3,175 votes; Tim Young, of the Green Party, was supported by 1,815 people and independent Andrew Emerson got 190 votes.

The result proved wrong the exit poll, which ear-marked Chichester as a holdout for the Conservatives, giving the Liberal Democrats a slim 15 per cent chance of victory.

In Chichester, the count itself continued after an unexpected fire alarm at about 2.30am.

Before the result was confirmed at around 3.50am, Jess Brown-Fuller arrived to a chorus of cheers, from a team of triumphant staffers at approximately 2am.