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Many seats were decided by only a few hundred votes during the General Election – North East Fife in Scotland boiled down to just two votes.

So it was no surprise a member of Tory MP David Jones’ team battled so hard to get one spoilt ballot paper accepted as a vote for him.

On the paper “winner, winner, chicken dinner” had been written “very neatly”.

Mr Jones, a Brexit minister, later took 48.1 percent of the vote – 19,541 votes – to retain his seat in Clwyd West in Wales.

He told Mirror.co.uk: “It is absolutely true. It was not me who had the conversation with the returning officer but it was of the scrutinisers from my team.

(Image: WALES NEWS SERVICE)

“It had been put into the spoilt ballot pile. Very neatly next to my name the voter had put 'winner, winner, chicken dinner'.

“I have never had anything like this before but some of my colleagues have. You frequently get abuse, of course.”

Mr Jones' nearest rival Labour Gareth Thomas, who represented the constituency in Westminster himself from 1997 until 2005, gained 16,104.

Spoiling ballot papers is nothing new.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

A Get Surrey photographer took a string of pictures of ballot papers at the vote count in Woking.

Some voters spoiled their ballot paper explaining they could not decide who to vote for.

Others though were rather rude when explaining how they could not decide on a candidate.

On one paper a seething voter wrote: “Theresa May is a b***h”.

There is a set process for deciding who imperfect ballot papers were supposed to back.

Candidates' representatives come together and examine them, and they only count towards a candidate if the voter's intention is agreed across the board.