High Stakes Dizzying Win But There's No Safety Net If Labour Fails

The asteroid hit at dawn. The seats of four Tory former prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson - fell in an hour at around 6am on Friday, capping a historically unprecedented collapse for the Conservative party.

- Robert Ford

The defeat of Truss provided this election's biggest schadenfreude moment, as the political career of the country's shortest-serving PM ended with her defeat by the largest swing to Labour ever recorded.

The loss of those four seats epitomised the message sent by voters - an emphatic rejection of the party these PMs had led over the past 14 years. The 2024 election saw the Conservatives fall to their lowest ever vote share and lose 252 seats more than any government has ever lost before. And more than half of the remaining 121 Tory MPs clung on with majorities of 8% or less.

This collapse was the result of a colossal proportional swing against the government. And what a fall it was. The party fell by an already substantial nine points in its weakest seats, but in strongholds where the Tory vote began over 55% the average decline was a staggering 27 points.