Hendon’s new MP, who secured his seat in Parliament with a majority of just 15 votes, has hailed the power of “small margins”.

Labour MP David Pinto-Duschinsky referenced his narrow victory at the general election during his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

He also spoke about how his father Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, a Hungarian-British author, narrowly avoided being sent to Auschwitz concentration camp as a child.

The Hendon seat was a gain from the Conservatives for Labour, with Mr Pinto-Duschinsky winning by just 15 votes, the smallest majority in any constituency.

In his first speech in Parliament, Pinto-Duschinsky said he didn’t need to “ponder long” to think of his lucky number.

He said: “My lucky number is 15. Why? Because 15 is the size of my majority.

“I have the honour of holding the smallest majority in parliament. It reminds me every day who sent me here, who I serve in this place, how grateful I am to the people who voted for me, and how life turns on the very smallest of margins.”

The Hendon MP added that small margins “run as a theme” in his family.

He said: “2024 is the 80th anniversary of my father being smuggled out of the Munkacs ghetto in what is today Ukraine.

“In April 1944, my infant father was herded along with the rest of the Jewish population of the town and surrounding countryside into the crowded, squalid ghetto.

“Thousands jammed in, into barely more than a handful of city blocks.

“But on the fifth of May 1944, a Christian woman pretending to be his mother spirited him out, just days before over 28,000 people, including unfortunately, many members of my own family, were put on trains to Auschwitz, never to return.

“Small margins. Small margins and the kindness of strangers. As a child refugee, he landed in London and was given greater opportunities by this great country.”

But Pinto-Duschinsky also acknowledged that “small margins” can present difficulties for those living in his constituency.

He explained: “Too many households in our community struggle to get by. Their ability to cope resting on the finest of margins – just one paycheck away from catastrophe.

“More than a third of children in Hendon are growing up poor after housing costs. In places like Colindale and Burnt Oak, the figure is significantly higher. That must change.”

Reporting by PA.