Top Tory Penny Mordaunt has lost her seat amid a wave of defeats for Cabinet ministers.
The Commons Leader was ousted from her seat in Portsmouth North – losing to Labour by fewer than 1,000 votes.
Ms Mordaunt was considered by many to be a likely candidate for the party leadership if she held on to her seat. She was among the most recognisable Tory MPs, having played key roles in the King’s Coronation ceremony and appearing on ITV celebrity diving game show Splash!
Ms Mordaunt’s defeat comes on a torrid night of results for the Conservative Party – who look set to lose over 200 seats. The first Tory big beast to lose his seat was Sir Robert Buckland, the former Justice Secretary – who took aim at “ill-discipline” within the Party after losing his seat.
“I think that we have seen in this election an astonishing ill-discipline within the party,” the former justice secretary said. “We can see articles being written before a vote is cast at the General Election about the party heading for defeat and what the prognosis should be. It is spectacularly unprofessional, ill-disciplined. That is not the Conservative Party I joined and have been an active member of for now nearly 40 years.”
Asked later if he was speaking about an article written by Conservative former home secretary Suella Braverman, Sir Robert replied: “I am afraid that is not an isolated example.”