London: Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and several Conservative Party cabinet colleagues of outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lost their seats on Friday when the opposition Labor Party came to power.
Truss, whose turbulent 45-day spell in power has been blamed by many Conservatives for Thursday's historic defeat, lost her south-west Norfolk constituency to Labor candidate Terry Jermy by 630 votes, having previously held a huge majority. of 24,180, the BBC reported.
The result in south-west Norfolk is likely to become emblematic of what appears to be the Conservatives' worst-ever election result, with the exit poll predicting they will win just 131 seats nationwide. Britain's Labor Party swept to power on Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory but also a mammoth task of revitalizing a stagnant economy and a dispirited nation.
Labor leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back into government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century.
He will take office at 10 Downing St., hours after Thursday's votes are counted, as Conservative leader Sunak is ousted. The Labor Party is estimated to have a majority of around 160 seats in the House of Commons. Sunak, Britain's first Indian-origin prime minister, comfortably held his own seat in Richmond and Northallerton, northern England, with 23,059. votes, but failed to turn things around for his party at the national level after 14 years in government.
Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg are among other senior Conservatives who have lost their seats.
Mordaunt, who was considered a future contender for the Conservative leadership, saw her majority of more than 15,000 in Portsmouth North overturned. Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, lost in north-east Somerset and Hanham, and Labor overturned its majority in 16,000.
She told the BBC that he would "blame no one but myself" and that it had been "a very bad night for the Conservatives".
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and Michelle Donelan are among a group of cabinet ministers who lost their seats. However, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who had been seen as vulnerable in his constituency of Godalming and Ash, managed to hold on with a slim majority of 891.
The Conservatives lost a number of seats in the south of England to the Liberal Democrats, who won more than 60 seats and are on course for their best result in a century.
They have also seen their vote limited by Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which won 14 per cent of the vote. Unlike the last election in 2019, when the Brexit Party remained on the sidelines in more than 300 seats held by the Conservatives , Reform's decision to field candidates across Britain contributed to heavy Tory losses, particularly in Brexit voting areas.
In conceding the election, Sunak called the results a "sobering verdict" for his party.
Speaking after losing his seat, Mordaunt said his party had "taken a beating because it failed to live up to the trust people had placed in it". He warned against "talking to a smaller and smaller portion of ourselves" and added: "If we want to return to being the natural party of the government, then our values must be those of the people."
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer also lost to Labor in Plymouth Moor View.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan lost to the Liberal Democrats in Chichester, a seat in West Sussex that the Conservatives have held for a century. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer lost Ely and East Cambridgeshire to the Liberal Democrats.
Leader Simon Hart, in charge of party discipline, lost to Plaid Cymru in Caerfyrddin, while the Conservatives lost all their seats in Wales.
Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland, who also lost his seat, told the BBC his party was facing an "electoral Armageddon". He said many Conservatives had focused on "personal agendas and jockeying for positions" rather than "focus on doing the job they were elected to do."
"I've seen colleagues posturing, writing inflammatory op-eds and saying stupid things for which they have no evidence, instead of focusing on doing the job they were elected to do," the former attorney general said.
Asked if he was referring to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who days before the polls opened published an article in the Daily Telegraph harshly criticizing the government, he said: "Yes, and I'm afraid it's not a isolated example." "I'm tired of personal agendas and competing for positions. The truth is that now that the conservatives face electoral Armageddon, it will be like a group of bald men arguing over a comb.
Robert stated that a move further to the right of the party would be a "disastrous mistake" that would "lead us into the abyss."
Former cabinet minister Steve Baker, who BBC projections gave less than a 1 per cent chance of retaining his seat, said his party was having an "incredibly difficult night". He said Sunak had a "brilliant mind". , but acknowledged that he had made mistakes during the campaign, including the decision to abandon D-Day commemorations early.
In his concession speech, Shapps attacked the Tory “leniency” that appears to have cost them the election, saying voters do not support divided parties.
Shapps, 55, has held five cabinet positions since then: from Transport Secretary and Home Secretary to Energy Security Secretary, Business Secretary and, most recently, Defense Secretary. After a brief leadership bid Conservative in 2022, Shapps became a major backer of Liz Truss' rival Sunak in that contest.
Shapps, who lost to Labor in Welwyn Hatfield, said it was “clear tonight that Britain will have a new government in the morning”.
"What is very clear to me tonight is that it is not so much that Labor won this election, but that the Conservatives lost it," he added. "Door after door, voters have been left dismayed by our inability to iron out our differences in private and then come together in public," Shapps added.
Truss, whose turbulent 45-day spell in power has been blamed by many Conservatives for Thursday's historic defeat, lost her south-west Norfolk constituency to Labor candidate Terry Jermy by 630 votes, having previously held a huge majority. of 24,180, the BBC reported.
The result in south-west Norfolk is likely to become emblematic of what appears to be the Conservatives' worst-ever election result, with the exit poll predicting they will win just 131 seats nationwide. Britain's Labor Party swept to power on Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory but also a mammoth task of revitalizing a stagnant economy and a dispirited nation.
Labor leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back into government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century.
He will take office at 10 Downing St., hours after Thursday's votes are counted, as Conservative leader Sunak is ousted. The Labor Party is estimated to have a majority of around 160 seats in the House of Commons. Sunak, Britain's first Indian-origin prime minister, comfortably held his own seat in Richmond and Northallerton, northern England, with 23,059. votes, but failed to turn things around for his party at the national level after 14 years in government.
Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg are among other senior Conservatives who have lost their seats.
Mordaunt, who was considered a future contender for the Conservative leadership, saw her majority of more than 15,000 in Portsmouth North overturned. Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, lost in north-east Somerset and Hanham, and Labor overturned its majority in 16,000.
She told the BBC that he would "blame no one but myself" and that it had been "a very bad night for the Conservatives".
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and Michelle Donelan are among a group of cabinet ministers who lost their seats. However, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who had been seen as vulnerable in his constituency of Godalming and Ash, managed to hold on with a slim majority of 891.
The Conservatives lost a number of seats in the south of England to the Liberal Democrats, who won more than 60 seats and are on course for their best result in a century.
They have also seen their vote limited by Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which won 14 per cent of the vote. Unlike the last election in 2019, when the Brexit Party remained on the sidelines in more than 300 seats held by the Conservatives , Reform's decision to field candidates across Britain contributed to heavy Tory losses, particularly in Brexit voting areas.
In conceding the election, Sunak called the results a "sobering verdict" for his party.
Speaking after losing his seat, Mordaunt said his party had "taken a beating because it failed to live up to the trust people had placed in it". He warned against "talking to a smaller and smaller portion of ourselves" and added: "If we want to return to being the natural party of the government, then our values must be those of the people."
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer also lost to Labor in Plymouth Moor View.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan lost to the Liberal Democrats in Chichester, a seat in West Sussex that the Conservatives have held for a century. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer lost Ely and East Cambridgeshire to the Liberal Democrats.
Leader Simon Hart, in charge of party discipline, lost to Plaid Cymru in Caerfyrddin, while the Conservatives lost all their seats in Wales.
Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland, who also lost his seat, told the BBC his party was facing an "electoral Armageddon". He said many Conservatives had focused on "personal agendas and jockeying for positions" rather than "focus on doing the job they were elected to do."
"I've seen colleagues posturing, writing inflammatory op-eds and saying stupid things for which they have no evidence, instead of focusing on doing the job they were elected to do," the former attorney general said.
Asked if he was referring to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who days before the polls opened published an article in the Daily Telegraph harshly criticizing the government, he said: "Yes, and I'm afraid it's not a isolated example." "I'm tired of personal agendas and competing for positions. The truth is that now that the conservatives face electoral Armageddon, it will be like a group of bald men arguing over a comb.
Robert stated that a move further to the right of the party would be a "disastrous mistake" that would "lead us into the abyss."
Former cabinet minister Steve Baker, who BBC projections gave less than a 1 per cent chance of retaining his seat, said his party was having an "incredibly difficult night". He said Sunak had a "brilliant mind". , but acknowledged that he had made mistakes during the campaign, including the decision to abandon D-Day commemorations early.
In his concession speech, Shapps attacked the Tory “leniency” that appears to have cost them the election, saying voters do not support divided parties.
Shapps, 55, has held five cabinet positions since then: from Transport Secretary and Home Secretary to Energy Security Secretary, Business Secretary and, most recently, Defense Secretary. After a brief leadership bid Conservative in 2022, Shapps became a major backer of Liz Truss' rival Sunak in that contest.
Shapps, who lost to Labor in Welwyn Hatfield, said it was “clear tonight that Britain will have a new government in the morning”.
"What is very clear to me tonight is that it is not so much that Labor won this election, but that the Conservatives lost it," he added. "Door after door, voters have been left dismayed by our inability to iron out our differences in private and then come together in public," Shapps added.
