General Election 2024: The former Government ministers who have lost their jobs - and their seats
The Justice Secretary, the Veterans Minister and the Science and Technology Minister are some of the ministers who have all lost their seats.
In Cheltenham, Alex Chalk lost to the Liberal Democrats, while Johnny Mercer was beaten by Labour in Plymouth Moor View. Elsewhere, Michelle Donelan was not elected to the new seat of Melksham and Devizes.
A number of other senior Conservatives have also lost their seats in what has been described by some, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, as a "terrible" night for the Conservatives.
Alex Chalk - Justice Secretary
Mr Chalk was first elected to Cheltenham in 2015 but won by a very narrow margin of 981 votes in 2019.
Now, he has lost his seat - and his job as Justice Secretary - to the Liberal Democrat candidate, Max Wilkinson.
Mr Wilkinson beat Mr Chalk by 7,210 votes - a higher majority than the Conservatives have achieved in the seat since 1979.
Conceding to Mr Wilkinson, Mr Chalk congratulated his opponent and wished him well.
In a short speech, he said: "For me this is disappointing of course, I dearly wanted to serve. Not to hold office for offices sake, but because I passionately believe in public service and I have more to give."
He thanked his Parliamentary staff, supporters, counting staff and his wife, before joking that losing both jobs will now give him time to "clear out the garage".
Speaking to ITV News, he said: "It's tough, I'm kind of finding it hard to put it into words. But you know what, I said in my speech, you can't only love democracy when you win."
Mr Chalk did not blame the Prime Minister for the Conservatives' loss.
He said: "We've got to be really about it - we've been in power for 14 years. There are seasons in politics - that's point one. That was always going to create a huge headwind. Plus, we've had the double tap, the double blow: the pandemic, plus the war in Ukraine.
"Lest we forget, our national income took a hit - that was the second difficult thing.
"And then the third thing, there were of course divisions and those were unsatisfactory as well. But never forget the first two, because those probably were going to be the decisive factors anyway."
He said he would now focus on being a "good father".
Mark Harper - Transport Secretary
The Conservative candidate for the Forest of Dean had hoped he would be able to hold on against the Labour tidal wave sweeping the country - but to no avail.
Mark Harper has lost his seat to Labour by the tantalisingly small amount of around 300 votes.
Mr Harper has represented the Forest of Dean since 2005, and won a majority of 15,869 in 2019.
But this has been completely swept away, with Labour's Matt Bishop now elected to represent the constituency.
Mr Harper won 16,095 votes, but it was not enough to beat Mr Bishop's 16,373 votes.
Speaking to ITV News afterwards, he said: "I’m very disappointed, particularly to have lost by such a small margin.
"I’ve very proud of the things I’ve achieved, over that 19 years [I've represented the Forest of Dean] I’ve helped thousands of people that live here and have achieved a great deal that I’m proud of and that’s what being a member of Parliament is about.
"It’s been a bad night for the Conservative party and when the dust has settled, my colleagues who are still in Parliament will have to think about how we go forward and how we rebuild the conservative party.
"I will now take some time to reflect on what I’ll do in the future."
Johnny Mercer - Veterans Minister
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer has lost a hard-fought battle for Plymouth Moor View to Labour.
The former MP, who has represented the seat since 2015, turned up just minutes before the declaration.
He saw his majority of 12,897 won in 2019 dramatically overturned.
The former Army captain lost to Royal Marines veteran Fred Thomas by 5,604 votes.
Mr Mercer won 12,061 votes to Mr Thomas' 17,665.
Mr Mercer left immediately after the declaration without speaking to any members of the media.
Michelle Donelan - Science and Technology Minister
The Science and Technology Minister Michelle Donelan has lost her seat - despite a swapping constituencies in a bid to win re-election.
Ms Donelan has represented Chippenham since 2015 but announced she would stand in the new seat of Melksham and Devizes, which it was thought was because this was considered a safer seat,
However, she has lost to the Liberal Democrats' Brian Matthew by 2,401 votes.
Ms Donelan won 17,630 to Mr Matthew's 20,031 - while Reform UK candidate Malcolm Cupis came a distant third with 6,726 votes.
Justin Tomlinson - Energy Security and Net Zero Minister
The Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero has also lost his seat in Swindon North. He had the unfortunate honour of becoming the first member of the Government in the West Country to lose his seat this election.
Justin Tomlinson has served in government in multiple times and has represented Swindon North since 2010 - but has now lost his constituency to Labour.
Mr Tomlinson previously worked as the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Minister for Disabled People and a junior minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
He most recently won a majority of more than 16,000 in 2019 but he has seen this wiped out.
Labour candidate Will Stone has now won a majority of 4,103, winning 17,930 votes to Mr Tomlinson's 13,827.
Justin Tomlinson speaks to ITV West Country after losing his seat
It means Mr Tomlinson is the first politician to be out of not one jobs but two - having lost both his seat and his role in Government.
Speaking about his loss, Mr Tomlinson called it a "dreadful night" and said "after 14 years, the country didn't feel we had earned the right for a fifth term and it is hard to disagree".
He added: "You have to earn the right to represent people. Democracy works in this country, and if you don't do that, judgement is passed and they have and they've sent a message. And I accept that."
You can see his reaction and many more from across the West Country here.
Rebecca Pow - Taunton and Wellington
Rebecca Pow, Nature Minister, is another West Country MP who has lost her seat.
Ms Pow has successfully represented the area since 2015, having won the seat from the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP.
However the Lib Dems have taken back control with a huge majority of 11,939.
Gideon Amos, a small business owner, now holds the seat.
Ms Pow said: “I’m honoured to have been the MP for nine years and delivered so much in Taunton and Wellington. I gave it my absolute all.
“I can’t pretend it hasn’t been a pretty devastating night for the Conservatives and that has been hugely influenced by the Reform votes. It has been a rollercoaster.”
Mr Amos said: “It’s the greatest privilege of my life. I will work as hard as I possibly can to help deliver.
"Somerset will have a voice in Parliament of strong Liberal Democrat MPs and we’ll use that to influence government to push government, and to work in Parliament to deliver for people of Somerset.”
Other notable Conservative losses across the West Country
Elsewhere, senior Conservative politician Sir Robert Buckland has also lost his seat to Labour in Swindon South. He has said his party now faces a "long" and "tough" road to win back support.
Another Conservative big-hitter now out of a job is Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has held a whole host of roles in the Government, most recently serving as the Business Secretary in 2022.
He went head-to-head with his long-term rival, Labour's Dan Norris, who held the precursor to Sir Jacob's seat until 2010, when the Conservative beat him.
The pair had not had a re-match for 14 years but competed to represent the new seat of North East Somerset and Hanham, with Mr Norris winning with a majority of 5,319.
Ahead of his loss, Sir Jacob had told ITV West Country that he feared he knew the result - and blamed his party for taking its core voters for granted.
"We have no divine right to people's votes", he said.
"We have to win them at every single election and parties do sometimes, particularly when they've been in office a long time, take their core vote for granted and that's been a mistake."
He added that he believes many traditional Conservative voters have turned to Reform UK. More than 7,000 voters chose Reform UK in his constituency. You can read more of Sir Jacob's comments here.
There was further disappointment in North Somerset for the Conservatives, where Sir Liam Fox lost his seat to the Labour Party after 32 years.
Sir Liam has previously held a number of roles in Government including serving as the Defence Secretary, the Chairman of the Conservative Party and the International Trade Secretary.
He was elected in 2019 with a majority of 17,536, but this was dramatically reversed, with Labour's Sadik Al-Hassan winning a wafer thing majority of 639 votes.
Conceding to Labour, Sir Liam congratulated Mr Al-Hassan and joked that he would discover it is "not quite as easy as it looks from the outside".
He thanked voters in North Somerset for his 32 years in Parliament, which he described as a "tremendous privilege".
"There's no point complaining about it here, there's nothing else to prove, we all have to take the ups and downs and bumps in life."
He thanked his team for all of their hard work and said he would continue to be vocal in the constituency, adding that he would hold the seat's new MP to account.
"I live to fight another day", he concluded.
Mel Stride has represented Central Devon since 2010 and was serving at the Work and Pensions Secretary.
Having helped the Prime Minister with both of his Conservative Party leadership contests in 2022 and serving as campaign chief, he worked his way to the frontbench.
Although he did manage to hold on to his seat, Labour's Ollie Pearson was only 61 votes behind.
A full list of Government ministers and shadow ministers in the West Country can also be found here.