A slew of UK Conservative big names, including 11 cabinet ministers, have lost their seats in the party’s worst-ever electoral defeat. Britons went to the polls on Thursday to elect 650 members of the House of Commons.
As the results came in, the extent of the Labour Party’s landslide victory became clear, in what former Tory leader William Hague called a “catastrophic” night for his party.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, along with Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and Commons leader Penny Mordaunt were among the highest-profile MPs to be ousted.
With nearly all votes counted, the Conservatives have retained just 121 seats. The Labour Party has won 412, giving them a resounding majority. The Liberal Democrats are in third place with 71, followed by the Scottish National Party with nine seats, Eurosceptic anti-immigration party Reform UK taking four, and the Greens also with four constituencies
In his concession speech, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said: “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight. There is much to learn and reflect on and I take responsibility for the loss.”
Former chairman of the Conservative Party Sir Brandon Lewis was quick to point the finger at Sunak, saying he “will go down as the Conservative prime minister and leader who had the worst election result in over a century.”
Party recriminations erupted as the scale of the rout became clear. Former Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, who lost his seat, has suggested aligning the Tories’ agenda with that of Nigel Farage’s Eurosceptic, anti-immigration Reform UK party.
Shapps blamed the drubbing on bickering among the Tories, denouncing what he called an “endless political soap opera out of internal rivalries and divisions.”