Eight Cabinet ministers have lost their seats in the General Election, beating the previous record of seven defeats in 1997.
Members of Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet and high-profile Tories who have lost their seats are:
– Grant ShappsDefence Secretary Grant Shapps lost his seat as MP for Welwyn Hatfield to Labour’s Andrew Lewin.
Mr Shapps has held a series of Cabinet positions under four Tory prime ministers – including energy security and net zero secretary, business secretary and home secretary.
– Penny MordauntThe House of Commons Leader, Penny Mordaunt, lost her Portsmouth North seat to Labour’s Amanda Martin.
It was thought that Ms Mordaunt, who went viral for carrying two heavy swords at the King’s coronation, would run for the party leadership if she managed to hang on to her seat.
She had two failed bids under her belt, having lost to Liz Truss and then Mr Sunak. She became an MP in 2010 and was made the UK’s first female defence secretary in 2019 but was bumped from the role after 85 days in a reshuffle.
– Alex Chalk
Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor since 2023, became MP for Cheltenham in 2015, and had a notional majority in 2019 of 1,421.
He was unseated this time around by Liberal Democrat Max Wilkinson.
Mr Chalk spent 14 years as a barrister and specialised in counter-terrorism, homicide and serious fraud cases before he was elected as an MP.
The legal system has faced severe challenges under his watch – with a backlog of court cases, delays due to Covid-19 and industrial action by criminal defence barristers.
– Gillian Keegan
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The Education Secretary since 2022 and MP for Chichester from 2017, Gillian Keegan lost her seat to Liberal Democrat candidate Jess Brown-Fuller.
Ms Keegan had pushed for banning smartphones in schools. She also oversaw draft statutory sex education guidance that “gender ideology” should not be taught in schools.
– Lucy Frazer
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer lost her seat in Ely and East Cambridgeshire to the Liberal Democrats’ Charlotte Cane.
Ms Frazer was a Sunak loyalist and her prior posts included minister in the transport and justice departments, financial secretary to the Treasury and solicitor general.
Before being elected as the MP for South East Cambridgeshire in 2015, she worked as a barrister in commercial law.
– Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer lost his seat in Plymouth Moor View to Labour candidate Fred Thomas.
The Veterans Minister was first elected in the 2015 General Election, having never voted before.
Mr Mercer came from a military family and graduated from Sandhurst in 2002, going on to serve around the world.
Earlier this year he faced controversy when he was told by a judge he must hand over names of the people who told him about alleged special forces murders in Afghanistan.
– Michelle Donelan
Science Secretary Michelle Donelan lost her Melksham and Devizes seat to the Liberal Democrats.
She faced calls to resign earlier in the year after taxpayers’ money was used to pay damages to an academic she had accused of expressing sympathy for Hamas.
– Simon Hart
Chief whip Simon Hart managed just third place in the newly created Caerfyrddin constituency, with Plaid Cymru’s Ann Davies taking the top spot.
He came to Parliament in 2010 with a background in rural affairs as chief executive of the Countryside Alliance and a former master of the South Pembrokeshire Hunt.
A former Welsh secretary, he quit the post in 2022 as pressure mounted on then prime minister Boris Johnson to resign.
Mr Hart, who worked as a chartered surveyor and served with the Territorial Army, had served as Conservative MP for Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire since 2010.
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