With the radical changes in the UK electoral map, which has shifted from a Conservative majority in 2019 to a Labour majority in this election, many prominent politicians have lost their seats:

House leader Penny Mordaunt was ousted by Labour in the Portsmouth North constituency. Mordaunt, who served as Defence Secretary in 2019 and previously as International Development Secretary, was first elected as a Conservative MP for the constituency in 2010.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps lost his Welwyn Hatfield constituency since 2005 to Labour, while Justice Secretary Alex Chalk lost his Cheltenham seat to the Liberal Democrats.

Leading right-wing Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg is to step down as an MP after losing his Somerset North East and Hanham constituency. While Labour candidate Dan Norris won 40.6% of the vote, Rees-Mogg, a prominent Brexiteer who was business secretary under Liz Truss, came second with 30.2%.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has been ousted by the Liberal Democrats in Chichester. The Conservatives have won Chichester at every general election since 1924, but this time the Liberal Democrats took 49.2% of the vote to the Conservatives’ 25.7%.

Conservative Robert Buckland, previously Welsh Secretary of State (July to October 2022) and Justice Secretary (2019 to 2021), lost in Swindon South. Buckland won just 26.9% of the vote, while Labour candidate Heidi Alexander won 48.4%. Alexander was previously the Labour MP for Lewisham East from 2010 to 2018, before resigning from Parliament to become Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, a role she held until 2021.

The Conservative Thérèse Coffey, who has held senior positions in Government, including Health Minister, was ousted by Labour in the Suffolk Coast constituency. The Conservatives had won the constituency at every election since its formation in 1983, but this time Labour won 31.7% of the vote, compared to 29.5% for the Conservatives.

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer also failed to win a seat in the new Parliament. He lost in the constituency of Plymouth Moor View, where Labour won with 41.2% of the vote to the Conservatives’ 28.1%. In 2019, Mercer won a majority of seats, with 60.7% of the vote.

Conservative leader and former Welsh secretary Simon Hart will also not remain as an MP. He lost Caerfyrddin in Wales, coming third behind Labour and Plaid Cymru, who won the seat.

Deputy Conservative leader Jonathan Gullis lost in Stoke-on-Trent North. While Gullis won 52.3% of the vote in the constituency in 2019, he won just 26.3%. Labour candidate David Williams won the constituency, receiving 40.3% of the vote.

However, it wasn’t just prominent Conservative MPs who lost their seats: Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire also lost his Bristol Central constituency.

Debbonaire had hoped to become Culture Secretary under a Labor government, but his hopes were dashed after Carla Denyer, one of the leaders of the Green Party, won 56.6% of the vote in the constituency, compared to Debbonaire’s 32.6%.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, who was expected to become Chief Payments Officer in a Labour government, lost his Leicester South constituency to independent candidate Shockat Adam.