Yikes! These are the most mortifying Tory moments and seat losses in the General Election

After 14 long years, the Tories are officially out and we have a Labour government in charge of the UK. Over the next few hours, Keir Starmer will be electing his new Labour Cabinet, meanwhile, we’ve had a lot of Tory losses, with 12 old Tory Ministers having lost their seats entirely in the election.

With only 121 seats, the Tories are 20 per cent down from 2019 and there are a lot of well-known Tories left without jobs today. So these are the most embarrassing seat losses and mortifying Tory moments from the 2024 General Election:

Liz Truss

Via YouTube

Lettuce anyone? Former Prime Minister for all of 45 days Liz Truss lost her South West Norfolk constituency to Labour’s Terry Jemmy. With a swing of 26 per cent, the biggest ever swing from Tory to Labour, she lost by 630 votes overall. This was originally thought of as one of the safest Tory seats.

Penny Mordaunt

omg she's in her reputation era pic.twitter.com/Ld3EL8GQYX

— 𝔰𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔥𝔞 🕊️🩶 (@carbdiem) July 5, 2024

One of the biggest shocks of the whole night, Penny Mordaunt lost her Portsmouth North seat to Labour with 13,715 votes to Labour’s 14,495. The defeat of the Commons leader was a massive shock as many thought she was tipped to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader. Uh oh!

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Via YouTube

The classic photo of Jacob Rees-Mogg asleep in the House of Commons really has summed up this entire thing, hasn’t it? The former business secretary lost his North East Somerset and Hanham constituency to Labour’s Dan Norris whom Rees-Mogg unseated during the 2010 election. He lost by 5,319 votes.

Gillian Keegan

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Gillian Keegan, former education secretary was one of the first Tory cabinet ministers to lose her seat last night. She lost Chichester to the Lib Dems’ Jess Brown-Fuller which has actually b been a Tory stronghold for 100 years.

Grant Shapps

Via YouTube

Former Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps lost his Welwyn Hatfield seat to labour shortly after 3am last night. In his concession speech, he acknowledged that it was “clear tonight that Britain will have a new government in the morning”, and he urged Labour to increase its funding commitment to defence spending. Grant Shapps lost by 3,799 votes.

Lucy Frazer

Via YouTube

Losing to the Lib Dems, former culture secretary Lucy Frazer lost her Ely and East Cambridge constituency by 495 votes.

Thérèse Coffey

Via YouTube

Not a key figure in the Tories’ current cabinet, but Thérèse Coffey has been a prominent Tory figure over the years, serving as environment secretary, health secretary and work and pensions secretary. She was also Deputy PM from September to October 2022 during the super short premiership of Liz Truss. She lost Suffolk Coastal with 14,602 votes to Labour’s Jenny Riddell-Carpenter’s 15,672.

Michelle Donelan

Via YouTube

Tory science secretary, Michelle Donelan, who was the MP for Chippenham in Wiltshire from 2015 to 2024, lost her bid to become the representative of the new constituency of Melksham and Devizes, which was won by Brian Mathew of the Liberal Democrats. She lost by 2,401 votes overall.

Alex Chalk

Via YouTube

Alex Chalk, Tory Justice Secretary under Rishi Sunak lost his Cheltenham seat to the Lib Dems’ Max Wilkinson. Although still a blow, this one isn’t that surprising given the seat has always had a strong Lib Dem presence. The Lib Dems held Cheltenham in the 2005 election and again in 2010 before Alex Chalk took the seat in 2015. He lost by 7,210 votes overall.

You can read Labour’s manifesto in full here. 

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