Expenses scandal: Tory 'stunned' by size of victory against shamed former Minister

On her third attempt at the seat, Mrs Lumley romped to victory, leaving Ms Smith one of the high-profile Labour casualties in the General Election.

Ms Smith conspicuously only walked into the main chamber of Redditch Town Hall seconds before the declaration just after 4.30am.

She made a short speech congratulating her rival and then left, looking close to tears while refusing to answer questions.

At her home near the town centre this morning, Ms Smith refused to add anything else, saying she had said all she wanted at the count.

In contrast Mrs Lumley, after a few hours' sleep, held court to waiting media at her home in the Brockhill area of the town.

She said: "I'm very excited, I have had a few hours' sleep.

"I was quite stunned really by the size of the majority.

"I think there's a lot of people who were undecided as we went through the campaign which made it difficult to call.

"People were talking about a range of issues – obviously expenses was one, but the economy and immigration were big too. I thought it would be really close to call."

A former "Blair Babe", Ms Smith's ousting was no huge surprise after her role in the expenses scandal.

The former school teacher hit the headlines after husband Richard Timney put two pornographic movies on her parliamentary expenses.

He later apologised, but Ms Smith then faced criticism for designating her sister's house in London as her main home rather than her home in

Redditch, where she lives with her husband and their two children.

She was found to have broken the rules on expenses, claiming more than 116,000 over six years from her living arrangement.

She was ordered to apologise and stood down as Home Secretary in June last year.

And with a turnout of 63.8 per cent, compared with 62.8 per cent in 2005, the 47-year-old former minister found herself booted out by the Redditch voters.