TORY big beasts Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt have lost their seats.
The former Defence Secretary and Commons Leader are two of the most experienced Cabinet Ministers standing at the election – and had been expected to throw their hats in the ring for leader.
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Chief Whip Simon Hart has also lost to Plaid Cymru and Veterans minister Johnny Mercer has been defeated in Plymouth Moor View in further major blows for the Tories.
However, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt narrowly kept his seat, as did PM Rishi Sunak.
Sunak admitted the British people had dealt a “sobering verdict” and conceded defeat to Labour, promising a civil handover.
Shapps – who had held his Welwyn Hatfield since 2005 – looked shaky as he conceded defeat to Labour and was the first Tory to admit his party has lost the election to the opposition.
He was scalped by 3,799 votes.
Laying into the Conservatives, he fumed: “Today, voters have simply said, ‘If you can’t agree with each other, then we can’t agree to vote for you.’
“We’ve forgotten a fundamental rule of politics, that people do not vote for divided parties.
“Now for the sake of the United Kingdom, I very much wish this new government well.
“But for the sake of a strong democracy, the Conservative Party needs to play its part by recognising what has gone wrong and using this time in opposition to refresh and rebuild the Conservative Party.
“We should be clear about what went wrong, put it right, and create a plan to the public.
“And then we must ensure that we present it to them in a way which means we can return within five years, not 15 years or longer.”
Emotional ex-Portsmouth North MP Mordaunt said: “Democracy is never wrong.
“Tonight, the Conservative Party has taken a battering because it failed to honour the trust that people had placed in it.
“You can speak all you like have security and freedom but you can’t have either if you are afraid.
“Afraid about the cost of living or accessing health care, or whether the responsibility you shoulder will be recognized and rewarded.
“That fear steals the future And it only makes the present matter. And that is why we lost.
“I’ve lost many good colleagues tonight. but I hope that like me, they intend to carry on serving their communities, with an even stronger heart.
“Our country needs all of us.”
Suella Braverman – who kept hold of her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville – was equally scathing regardless.
On a historic night:
She said: “I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you.
“The Conservative Party has let you down. You.
“The great British people voted for us over 14 years. And we did not keep our promises.
“We’ve acted as if we’re entitled to vote, regardless of what we did.
“Regardless of what we didn’t do, despite promising time after time, that we would do those things.
“And we need to learn our lesson. Because if we don’t bad as tonight has been for my party, but we’ll have many worse nights to come.
“The country deserves better And we’ve got to do better.
And I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust.
“We need to listen to you. You have spoken to us very clearly.”
Conservative seats across Britain are falling like dominoes to Sir Keir Starmer’s party as it makes unprecedented gains.
However, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith held his Chingford and Woodford Green with the odds stacked against him.
BRITAIN WILL WAKE UP TO A POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE
By Kate Ferguson, Political Editor Sun on Sunday
BRITAIN will wake up tomorrow to a political earthquake.
If the exit poll is right, Labour have stormed to victory with their biggest majority in their 100 year history.
It is a jaw-dropping turnaround from the dark days of the Jeremy Corbyn era of 209, when the party suffered their worst result in history.
The Tories look set to be decimated. The most successful political party in Europe has been reduced to just a rump of 131 MPs.
Be in no doubt – this is a nightmare for the Conservative Party. They now face the painful task of having to rebuild and choose a new leader.
But the big story of the night is Nigel Farage’s Reform party, who are expected to win a staggering 13 seats.
This political maverick has lobbed a grenade into Westminster – and he is only just getting started.
Reform is expected to win the key seat of Hartlepool – the Red Wall seat in Labour’s old heartlands which turned Tory under Boris Johnson.
Nigel, 60, the godfather of Brexit, is a charismatic leader well trained in waging war on ‘political elites’ from his days in the European Parliament.
He had run and failed to become an MP seven times before.
He has finally won on the eighth attempt – and looks set to have a dozen Reform MPs with him.
He has the potential to change the face of politics forever.
Sir Keir Starmer and the next leader of the Tories – whoever that may be – should brace themselves.
And in a shock, Labour Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth was ousted from Leicester South by less than 1,000 votes by pro-Gaza independent Shockat Adam.
Reform UK chief Nigel Farage was elected to parliament for the first time on his eighth attempt, taking the Clacton seat with 21,225 votes and said his party is now targeting Labour seats.
He said: “What is interesting is there’s no enthusiasm for Labour, there’s no enthusiasm for Starmer whatsoever.
“In fact, about half of the vote is simply an anti-Conservative vote. This Labour Government will be in trouble, very, very quickly.”
Elsewhere, Starmer’s party has clawed back constituencies lost to Boris Johnson in the Red Wall in 2019.
And the reds have also booted out Tory mainstays Sir Robert Buckland in Swindon South and Justin Tomlinson in Swindon North.
Sir Keir’s party has also gained the totemic bellwether seat of Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
The leader himself has held his seat in Holborn and St Pancras – though saw his votes drop from the last election.
The exit poll shows Starmer thundering into Downing Street with a 170 seat majority.
Eclipsing even that of Tony Blair’s 1997 rout, Labour is predicted to have bagged 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 131, the Lib Dems on 61 and Reform on 13.
EXIT POLL RESULTS
410 Labour
131 Conservatives
13 Reform UK
61 Lib Dem
10 SNP
2 Green Party
Labour’s expected victory is a significant turnaround from five years ago when the party crashed to its worst defeat since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn.
However polls have shown Sir Keir’s own personal appeal will be among the lowest of any incoming premier.
The final results are likely to show a collapse in Tory support in both the Red Wall seats won by Johnson in 2019, as well as their traditional heartlands in the south.
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