Home Secretary Amber Rudd has narrowly clung onto her seat by just 346 votes, following speculation she would become the most high profile cabinet member to lose.

With the vote so close, officials undertook a full recount in Hastings and Rye over the course of the night, delaying the result by around three hours.

She has survived with a dramatically reduced majority - going from more than 4,000 to fewer than 350.

Scroll down for video

Amber Rudd held on to her seat by a narrow majority of fewer than 350 votes, a dramatic slash from her 4,000 majority in 2015

The Home Secretary pictured attending the count for her seat at a centre in Hastings

A recount was forced at the Hastings and Rye seat as Amber Rudd clung on by just 346 votes

According to sources at the count, it was believed to boil down to just hundreds of votes.

She was named among the high-profile MPs who were under threat, alongside ministers and cabinet members like Jane Ellison and Justine Greening. Although Greening survived, with a decreased majority, Ellison lost to Labour.

Although Mrs Rudd, 53, won praise just days ago when she stood in for the Prime Minister in a televised election debate, she had just a 9.4 per cent lead, putting her in the danger zone.

In Mrs Rudd's south coast seat, where she has served since 2010, the Green Party has forged an alliance with Labour to oust the 53-year-old from her constituency.

Speaking after the narrow win, she said: 'I'm deeply honoured to have been re-elected for the third time by the residents of Hastings and Rye.'

Despite Mrs Rudd, 53, winning praise just days ago when she stood in for the Prime Minister in a televised election debate, she has just a 9.4 per cent lead, putting her in the danger zone

Ms Rudd said: 'I'm deeply honoured to have been re-elected for the third time by the residents of Hastings and Rye.

'This is a fantastic place to live and work and I'm going to continue my hope to build on the opportunities and great regeneration that has been taking place in this area.

'Improving our schools, improving our NHS and getting the infrastructure investment that we need.

'This is what really matters to me and this is what I hope to continue to deliver for the fantastic constituency of Hastings and Rye.'

Mrs Rudd played a prominent role in the election campaign and is tipped as a possible successor to finance minister Philip Hammond.

She said she was 'hopeful but not complacent' over her chances in Hastings and Rye amid speculation she might be the most senior Cabinet minister to lose her seat.

She told BBC News: 'I'm just quietly waiting and keeping an eye on everybody and everything in the normal way.'

Pressed on her chances, she said: 'I'm just hopeful but not complacent.'

The mother-of-two has held Hastings and Rye

The mother-of-two has held Hastings and Rye after taking it from Labour in 2010, and won a majority of 4,796 in 2015.

The Green Party, which won just under 2,000 votes there in 2015, has agreed not to field a candidate in a bid to help Labour try and unseat Rudd. Pollster YouGov's election model has predicted they could succeed in doing so.

Ms Rudd is a direct descendant of Charles II and her mother is Marchioness Conyngham by remarriage.

She entered Parliament in 2010 and becoming Home Secretary in just six years – a meteoric rise for the former Cheltenham Ladies' College student.

Mrs Rudd was 'aristocracy co-ordinator' and asked to arrange for people in 'smart wedding outfits' to appear in the background during the wedding scenes of the hit 1994 Hollywood blockbuster Four Weddings And A Funeral, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell.

The 53-year-old was born in London studied History at Edinburgh University before going on to became a successful investment banker in London and New York.

She has also worked in financial journalism and recruitment but entered politics in her 40s after deciding to take her 'life back'.

She was appointed as a junior minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change in July 2014 and, in May 2015, became Secretary of State.

Mrs Rudd was given the role of Home Secretary last year, having been promoted by Theresa May in her Cabinet reshuffle.

A committed Remain campaigner in the EU referendum, she raised eyebrows with the highly personalised attacks she launched on Boris Johnson during a live TV clash in which she said: 'Boris is the life and soul of the party, but he is not the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening.'

She entered Parliament in 2010 and becoming Home Secretary in just six years – a meteoric rise for the former Cheltenham Ladies' College student

In Mrs Rudd's south coast seat, where she has served since 2010, the Green Party has forged an alliance with Labour to oust the 53-year-old (pictured at a count tonight)

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has held Hastings and Rye after taking it from Labour in 2010, and won a majority of 4,796 in 2015

She said she was 'hopeful but not complacent' over her chances in Hastings and Rye amid speculation she might be the most senior Cabinet minister to lose her seat

In her role as Home Secretary she is responsible for the UK's security from crime and terrorism, for reducing net migration to sustainable levels, and for taking steps to protect vulnerable people from abuse, violence and modern slavery.

She is also vice-chairman of the parliamentary committee on female genital mutilation, chairperson of the all-party parliamentary group for sex equality and has campaigned to see more women in Cabinet positions.

She has pledged to work to secure faster train services with greater capacity between London and the south coast, tackle local unemployment and support schools and the NHS.

Ms Rudd's father, a retired stockbroker and Second World War pilot, died last Monday aged 93.

She also suffered the loss of her ex-husband, Sunday Times journalist AA Gill from cancer less than six months ago.

They were married for five years in the 1990s and had two children.

The Home Secretary represented the Conservatives instead of Theresa May on the 90 minute BBC special last week even though her father Tony Rudd passed away just days earlier.

Some praised Ms Rudd as 'stoic' and 'courageous' and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: 'I thought Amber did an absolutely heroic job'.

Ms Rudd's father, a retired stockbroker and Second World War pilot, died last Monday aged 93

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox

The Home Secretary represented the Conservatives instead of Theresa May on the 90 minute BBC special

Rudd had to endure a recount as the result was so close in her seat, and saw her majority cut

In recent days Mrs Rudd has faced questions about national security and extremists slipping through the net after the terror attack in London last Saturday night.

'It's not really for me or for the Foreign Secretary to say how that happened or what happened,' she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

'It's like any incident, you will look and find out whether there is something to learn. I can say with absolute confidence that they will want to do that, but I can say that without, I hope, putting any sort of suggestion of blame because it's very easy to rush in and say 'what went wrong?'.

'There were some fantastic elements of this where the counter-terrorism policing and security services worked incredibly closely and effectively.

'But as we have seen in the past three months, there has been a step up in attacks against us from the enemy, and we need to make sure that we improve, make changes, do more to counter extremism as we go forward.'

Losing seats would be an unprecedented setback for a Prime Minister who called a snap election while riding high in the polls.

A slew of senior figures including home secretary Amber Rudd and former minister Anna Soubry could be axed.