Sunak shoulders the burden for crushing Tory defeat as his party debates future

Liz Truss and a record number of serving Cabinet members lost their seats in the Tory bloodbath, as one of Mr Sunak’s most loyal allies Mel Stride said the party needed a new leader.

The outgoing Prime Minister said it had been a “difficult night” and apologised to Conservative candidates who had lost their seats, as he held onto his own Richmond and Northallerton constituency.

Mr Sunak’s apology was echoed by Suella Braverman, but the Tory leadership challenger was sorry for her party’s record in Government, suggesting it had not listened enough to the electorate.

Ms Truss lost her Norfolk South West seat, where she had been defending a notional majority of more than 24,000, to Labour.

The former prime minister, who during her short time in Downing Street oversaw the disastrous mini-budget that spooked markets, said the Tories had not “delivered sufficiently” on voters’ priorities including curbing immigration.

Ms Truss declined to give a concession speech but told the BBC: “I think the issue we faced as Conservatives is we haven’t delivered sufficiently on the policies people want.

“And that means keeping taxes low, but also particularly on reducing immigration.”

Asked whether she accepted some responsibility for that, Ms Truss said: “I agree. I was part of that. That’s absolutely true.

“But during our 14 years in power, unfortunately we did not do enough to take on the legacy we’d been left, in particular things like the Human Rights Act that made it very difficult for us to deport illegal immigrants.”

Meanwhile, former justice Sir Robert Buckland warned that a lurch to the right would be “disastrous” for the party after he lost his Swindon South seat.

Speaking at Northallerton leisure centre after his result came in, Mr Sunak said: “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn… and I take responsibility for the loss.

“To the many good, hard-working Conservative candidates who lost tonight, despite their tireless efforts, their local records and delivery, and their dedication to their communities. I am sorry.”

The Prime Minister held onto his seat with a nearly 13,000 majority over his nearest rival, Labour’s Tom Wilson, but conceded defeat for the Tories amid crushing results elsewhere for the party.

Among the dozen Cabinet ministers to lose their seats overnight were Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Welsh Secretary David TC Davies, Transport Secretary Mark Harper, Attorney General Victoria Prentis and veterans minister Johnny Mercer, all to Labour.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, Science Secretary Michelle Donelan, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and Illegal Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson lost to the Liberal Democrats.

Chief whip Simon Hart lost to Plaid Cymru.

But party chairman Richard Holden won by just 20 votes in Basildon and Billericay and Jeremy Hunt clung on to the Godalming and Ash seat in Surrey despite a threat from the Liberal Democrats.

The outgoing Chancellor said the Conservatives’ “crushing” defeat was a “bitter pill to swallow” for the party.

Former home secretary Ms Braverman, who was elected to the new constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville, said “I’m sorry” twice during her victory speech.

“I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you,” she said.

“(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 your 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, we’ll have many worse nights to come.”

The Hampshire MP wrote a Telegraph article earlier this week with the headline: “It’s over, we have failed.”

Asked about it, Sir Robert told the BBC: “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.”

He also warned against a rightward tilt for his party, claiming it “would be a disastrous mistake and it would send us into the abyss, and gift Labour government for many years”.

Outgoing Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Stride, who held on to his Central Devon seat by just 61 votes, said it would take “quite a lot of time” for the Tory party to “rebuild”.

He said it was for Mr Sunak to announce his next steps, adding: “Clearly, at some point, there will need to be a new leader of the Conservative Party and I don’t think that is a startling statement to make.”

Outgoing Home Secretary James Cleverly, who held his seat in Braintree, Essex, warned that “there is nothing honourable in presenting simple and thin solutions to challenging and complex problems”.

Mr Shapps, who lost his Welwyn Hatfield seat to Labour, said his party had an “inability to iron out (its) differences” amid and endless “soap opera”.

And in Portsmouth, outgoing Tory MP Ms Mordaunt said the Tories had lost because they “failed to honour the trust that people had placed in it”.

She added: “Our renewal as a party and a country will not be achieved by us talking to an ever smaller slice of ourselves but being guided by the people of our country. And if we want again to be the natural party of government, then our values must be the people’s.”

Seats previously held by Tory big beasts, including Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip and Theresa May’s Maidenhead, were taken by Labour and the Liberal Democrats respectively.

Tory Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, who had signalled his intention to launch a Tory leadership bid after the election, said “thank God I’m a free man” after he was defeated by Labour in Wycombe.

Tory deputy chairman Jonathan Gullis, former cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and business and trade minister Greg Hands were beaten by Labour.