A RECORD number of senior ministers, including the defence secretary and one touted as a possible future leader, lost their parliamentary seats as the governing Conservative Party suffered a series of catastrophic defeats in Britain's election.
Defence minister Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt, leader of the lower house of parliament, were among ten cabinet ministers who lost their seats, surpassing the previous record of seven in 1997 when Tony Blair brought Labour to power in a landslide election victory.
After the Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, Labour was set to govern for the first time since 2010.
Shapps hit out at Conservative divisions during his concession speech, blaming his colleagues for losing the support of voters.
"We've tried the patience of traditional Conservative voters with a propensity to create an endless political soap opera out of internal rivalries and divisions, which have become increasingly indulgent and entrenched," he said.
Anger at economic stagnation, political scandals and a crisis in public services after years of government spending cuts, saw voters desert the Conservative Party, which has governed in Britain longer than any other political party.
Shapps is the most high-profile minister in Britain to lose his seat since Michael Portillo, the then defence minister in 1997, in one of the most famous moments in modern British political history.
Appointed defence minister in August last year, Shapps had held a number of jobs, running departments from transport and energy to business.
Ministers losing their seats are relatively rare in British politics. Until Thursday only four cabinet ministers had lost their seats at the last six elections over 27 years.
But there was a procession of defeats as results were announced in the early hours of Friday.
Mordaunt was responsible for the government's business in parliament and she would have been one of the leading candidates to replace Sunak should he, as is expected, step down after the crushing defeat Read More.....