Gavin Barwell has been rewarded for holding on to his Croydon Central seat with a new position within the Conservative government. 

Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday promoted the MP to make him the third most senior whip in Parliament.

Mr Barwell secured his seat in Thursday's general election by just 165 votes, narrowly defeating Labour's Sarah Jones following a recount at Fairfield Halls. 

He has been appointed to the position of Comptroller of the Royal Household, making him responsible for the day-to-day running of the House of Commons chamber.

The role historically includes ancient ceremonial duties to the monarchy, although in the present day this is largely limited to serving as an usher at Royal garden parties.

Mr Barwell was first appointed a Government whip in 2013 and promoted to a senior whip position last year.

Following the new appointment yesterday, he said: "It is obviously nice when you get some recognition, but the most important job is being the member of Parliamenet for Croydon Central.

"It's great when the Prime Minister asks you to take on a role nationally, but I'm in politics because I'm very passionate about my home town and trying to ensure it gets a better deal from the government and trying to ensure that we can turn around the relative decline it endured in the 1990 and early 2000s."

The MP said a "massive burden" had been lifted by his election following a gruelling year-long campaign in which his Labour rival was consistently tipped to beat him. 

He told the Croydon Guardian earlier this month he planned to quit politics entirely if he lost.

Mr Barwell said pushing through Westfield and Hammerson's redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre was now his priority after securing another five years in Parliament.

He will meet the shopping centre giants on Friday morning to discuss the progress if their detailed plans.

Greg Clark, the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, will make a decision on whether to grant the compulsory purchase order for the development later this year.

Mr Barwell said: "Very shortly he is going to have the inspector's report on the CPO inquiry on his desk and we want to get the quickest possible decision on that in order that the work stripping out the buildings can get underway and we can get on with it.

He added: "It is critically important that the work in the transport infrastructure takes place at the same time as the work on the scheme so that we don't have the situation where the centre is finished but the transport work is still going on and the disruption carries on for a whole longer."