House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt narrowly lost her Portsmouth North constituency.

The seat, traditionally a barometer of election results, was won by Labour’s Amanda Martin, who secured 14,495 votes to Ms Mordaunt’s 13,715, an 18 per cent margin.

Ms Mordaunt has been Lord President of the Council since 2022 and MP for Portsmouth North since 2010.

Ms Martin said: “You now work for the best employer in the world – the people of Portsmouth are wonderful, hard-working, generous and everything I have achieved has been possible because of them.”

She added: “I thank them for the opportunities they gave me.

“I will never stop caring about these people and this place.

“In everything I was guided by them – their common sense, their determination, their hopes, their pride in our city and our nation.”

As the results were announced at the Portsmouth Guildhall, there were gasps of surprise from the spectators.

She told BBC Radio Solent: “I never take any election for granted, we’ve worked hard for 14 years and sometimes the tide turns.”

She wished Ms Martin “all the best” and added that she would “do everything I can to support her”.

In 2022, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak asked Ms Mordaunt to become Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council.

In this role, she oversaw both the Accession Council following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III.

A Conservative minister has won praise for her endurance after carrying the 17th-century Sword of State and the Jeweled Sword of Offering for more than an hour at the king’s coronation.

She served under Conservative leaders Sir John Major and William Hague, and worked on George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.

In David Cameron’s coalition government she served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Devolution in 2014–15.

She was also the first woman to serve as Armed Forces Minister this year.

In 2016, she was appointed Minister for Disabled People, Health and Labour, and in 2017 she took up the position of Secretary of State for International Development.

The 51-year-old has been a Royal Navy reservist since 2009, completing his officer training in 2013 and receiving his honorary degree in 2019.

He currently holds the honorary rank of captain.

Mrs Mordaunt, the daughter of a parachutist and a special needs teacher, has lived in her home town of Portsmouth since the age of two.

She attended Oaklands RC Comprehensive School and was the first member of her family to go to university.

Before studying Philosophy at the University of Reading, she worked as an assistant magician for Will Ayling, a member of the Portsmouth and District Magic Circle, author of The Art of Illusion and Oriental Conjuring and Magic.