Big losers and small majorities: Clegg loses his seat, Rudd holds on

Some big names lost their seats as members of parliament as a shock UK election result unfurled on Friday morning, including former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and several Conservative ministers.

Conservative housing minister Gavin Barwell lost his seat in the House of Commons to Labour's Sarah Jones in Croydon Central, while two Tory treasury ministers lost their seats, with Chief Secretary Jane Ellison losing Battersea to Labour's Marsha de Cordova and City Minister Simon Kirby defeated in Kemptown by Labour's Lloyd Russell-Moyle.

One of the biggest election night shocks was when Ben Gummer, one of the chief authors of Theresa May's manifesto and tipped to be a big new figures in the Brexit negotiations, was ousted from Ipswich, as Labour made a totally unexpected 35 gains over the night.

Elsewhere in London David Burrowes lost the perennial swing seat Enfield Southgate to Labour's Bambos Charalambous.

The last seat to be confirmed was Kensington in London, where the council's tellers were sent home for a rest following two recounts. Kensington was felt to have been a relatively safe Conservative seat but proved too close to call before a third recount, with rumours swirling among journalists on social media that Labour's Emma Dent Coad had pinched it.

There were some close wins and shrinking majorities for the Conservatives, with Home Secretary Amber Rudd holding onto her Hastings & Rye seat by the skin of her teeth, with her majority shrinking to only around 300 seats.

Zac Goldsmith won back his Richmond Park seat as a Tory by just 45 seats -- having lost it as an independent candidate in a byelection six months ago -- just edging out Lib Dem Sarah Olney after several re-counts. Even closer, Royston Smith held onto Southampton Itchen by just 31 votes over Labour's Simon Letts, while former Northern Irish secretary Theresa Villiers held onto Chipping Barnet saw her 8,000-plus majority almost gobbled up to not much more than 500 seats.

For the Lib Dems, while ex leader Clegg lost his Sheffield seat to Labour, party grandee Vince Cable won back his place in the Commons from the Tories in Twickenham.

Among the SNP's losses, former leader Alex Salmond lost his Gordon seat to the Conservatives' Colin Clark.

Labour MP Kate Hoey, a key target for the Open Britain pro-Europe group due to her prominence as a pro-leave campaigner, won with a big majority in Vauxhall, with Lib Dem challenger George Turner a distant second.