The five former Welsh secretaries who lost their seats as MPs at the General Election

Five former Welsh secretaries have lost their seats at the 2024 General Election.

Conservatives' David TC Davies becomes the first Welsh secretary ever to lose his seat while in the role.

The senior Tory had been an MP for Monmouth for almost 20 years and was bidding to defend his seat in the newly-drawn boundary of Monmouthshire, but lost his seat in an election which has seen his party wiped out in Wales.

He was unseated by Labour’s Catherine Fookes, who received 21,010 votes compared to 17,672 for Mr Davies. The turnout was 68.15%.

Here are the five former Welsh secretaries who lost their seats at the 2024 General Election:

David TC Davies

He was the final Tory to fall in Wales at the overnight election count, having been the Monmouth MP since 2005 and Welsh secretary since October 2022.

The 52-year-old had served as the MP for Monmouth since 2005, and had been Wales’ minister in the cabinet since October 2022 – one of the most senior UK government positions held by a Welsh MP.

Mr Davies has been an outspoken critic of devolution and has expressed strong views on asylum seekers, gender self-ID and in August 2023, he was reported to South Wales Police over a leaflet distributed in his constituency during a consultation on potential traveller sites undertaken by Monmouthshire County Council. Police took no further action.

Mr Davies, a father of three, congratulated his opponent on her success while acknowledging it was a “disappointing” result for his party.

Labour last held the Monmouth seat between 1997 and 2005.

Until 2015, Mr Davies also worked as a special constable with the British Transport Police, working fortnightly in London.

He resigned from the role following rule changes that meant special constables could not be actively involved in politics.

Stephen Crabb

Mr Crabb missed out in Mid and South Pembrokeshire, with Labour’s Henry Tufnell elected instead after 16,505 votes to Mr Crabb's 14,627. The turnout was 59%.

He had been the MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, but due to redrawn parliamentary boundaries he was standing in Mid and South Pembrokeshire.

Mr Crabb, 51, was well-known as the chair of the Welsh Affairs committee and admitted his party had suffered a "historic, seismic defeat".

He had a short stint as secretary of state for Wales after a cabinet reshuffle in 2014 before his tenure as work and pensions minister ended in him admitting to sending sexually explicit messages to a 19-year-old woman he had interviewed for a job while he was in the Wales job.

Simon Hart

Mr Hart, who was also Rishi Sunak’s chief whip until the election was called, failed to win the seat of Caerfyrddin, which went to Plaid Cymru.

Plaid's Ann Davies received 15,520 votes, with Labour taking the second biggest share with 10,985 and then Mr Hart with 8,825 votes. The turnout was 61.6%.

Mr Hart had been the MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire since 2010. He served in cabinet as Welsh secretary but resigned from the role in the wake of widespread criticism of Boris Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.

Alun Cairns

Cairns became the first of a number of senior Welsh Conservatives to lose their seats, in a big scalp for Labour given the Vale of Glamorgan seat had been blue since 2010.

The seat was won by Kanishka Narayan, who received 17,740 votes to Mr Cairns' 13,524. The turnout was 61.62%.

Mr Cairns took over as the secretary of state of Wales in 2016, from Stephen Crabb. He was criticised by some for his 2018 announcement to rename the Severn Bridge between Wales and England to the Prince of Wales Bridge to mark the 60th anniversary of the then-Prince Charles becoming the Prince of Wales.

Sir Robert Buckland

Former Welsh secretary Sir Robert Buckland became the first Tory to lose his seat in 2024 election.

The Llanelli-born MP, who had represented Swindon South since 2010, lost to Labour candidate Heidi Alexander, who took 21,676 votes in the Wiltshire constituency compared to Sir Robert's 12,070.

After the result, the former barrister said he was "fed up" and lambasted his party's plan for national service as being “totally oversold” and a “mistake”.

“The time has gone for cheap populism, if it ever existed,” he added.

Sir Robert served in Boris Johnson's cabinet as Welsh secretary, replacing Simon Hart in July 2022.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda in every episode…