What a massive relief when that exit poll was released! Throughout the day, the fantastic team of volunteers who had worked so hard with me had all descended on Northampton North to help get Michael Ellis’ vote out, and then, soaking wet, we went back to my house for food, to dry off, and to see what was happening.

And then the nerves started... big queues at polling stations, pouring rain stopping people voting, Momentum sending all their helpers to Milton Keynes to ‘take’ those two seats... rumours and counter rumours.

So by 10pm when we joined up with other local Conservatives, despite a fantastic campaign effort from our activists across the country, our emotions were running high. But then the news came in - a superb majority for Boris! For getting Brexit done, and for rejecting the crazy Marxist, anti-Semite and terrorist-supporting Labour leadership.

Once again our brilliant fellow citizens saw through to the real core of the challenge: in order to get our whole United Kingdom growing and thriving, with shared prosperity and jobs across all four nations, with strong public services and world class infrastructure, we’ve just got to get Brexit done!

I campaigned in over 40 constituencies with amazingly committed candidates - from Blyth Valley to St Ives, from Grimsby to Bridgend, from Milton Keynes to Kensington, and the views expressed everywhere I went, whether voters were leave or remain, small or big business owners, retired or working flat out, is that we have to move on - get Brexit done, and then focus on delivering the promise of a brighter future across our nations as an independent sovereign United Kingdom.

And how right they are! As Business Secretary, it’s been clear for months that the logjam in Parliament was damaging confidence and freezing decision making. So it’s fantastic, but no surprise, that when the exit poll came in Sterling bounced, to its highest against the Euro since the 2016 referendum, and the FTSE 250 hit an all-time high. The CBI and other trade bodies have said the certainty of the majority will unlock a wave of investment into the UK. The first dividend of the leadership shown by Boris... trust me, it will prove to be only the first of many.

I truly believe we have an incredible future ahead of us. The UK will lead the world in tackling climate change, with up to two million ‘green’ jobs by 2030; UK life sciences are already changing the world with new medicines and techniques that aim to give us all a longer, healthier life; UK investment in automation will lead the way in driverless cars and buses; UK space investment means we lead the world in commercial satellite technology helping to better predict everything from weather to traffic jams. And our investment in skills will give new opportunities, while our new immigration policy will be fair to the job and pay prospects of our own citizens while making sure we can recruit the skills we need from abroad.

So after a very long election night, where my own count finished after 7am, I have the incredible honour of continuing to represent my home area - beautiful South Northamptonshire with its 92 parishes, villages and wards. I am so grateful to all those who turned out to vote for me, and I won’t let them down.

Now it’s down to business...