The Conservative Get together is going through “electoral Armageddon”, a former cupboard minister has warned.
Sir Robert Buckland, the primary Tory of the night time confirmed to have misplaced his seat, mentioned too many in his social gathering have been targeted on “private agendas and jockeying for place” as a substitute of “concentrating on doing the job that they have been elected to do”.
The exit ballot for the BBC, ITV and Sky suggests the Conservatives will maintain on to 131 seats, down 241, whereas Labour will emerge as the most important social gathering with 410.
If confirmed, it could be the worst consequence for the Conservatives in fashionable historical past.
Chatting with the BBC, Sir Robert mentioned he was “fed up with efficiency artwork politics”.
“I’ve watched colleagues within the Conservative Get together strike poses, write inflammatory op-eds, and say silly issues they haven’t any proof for, as a substitute of concentrating on doing the job that they have been elected to do,” the previous justice secretary mentioned.
Requested whether or not he was referring to former residence secretary Suella Braverman, who days earlier than polls opened printed an article within the Day by day Telegraph strongly crucial of the federal government, he mentioned: “Sure, and I am afraid that is not an remoted instance.”
“I am fed up of private agendas and jockeying for place. The reality is now with the Conservatives going through electoral Armageddon, it should be like a gaggle of bald males arguing over a comb.
“It is not about left and proper. It is about those that wish to come into politics to do issues, reasonably than to be one thing.”
Sir Robert added that for the social gathering to maneuver additional to the precise due to the consequence can be a “disastrous mistake and it could ship us into the abyss”.
Different senior Conservatives have additionally acknowledged the social gathering is heading for defeat and begun discussing what introduced it to this place.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride, who’s extensively anticipated to lose in Central Devon, mentioned: “It is a very troublesome second for the Conservative social gathering and I’m clearly very sorry that plenty of my colleagues… [are not] going to be getting again to parliament.
“I feel when the historical past’s written of this we are going to recognise there have been many achievements that this authorities has had.”
Former enterprise secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg mentioned it was “clearly a horrible night time” for his social gathering and that it had come to take its “core vote without any consideration”.
“We have to win voters at each single election. In the event you take your base without any consideration….your voters will look to different events.”
He additionally mentioned he thought the social gathering had made a mistake by ousting Boris Johnson, who led it to victory within the 2019 election however was compelled to step down as prime minister in 2022 following a sequence of scandals.
“Voters count on the prime minister they’ve chosen to stay the prime minister and for it to be the voters who determine when that particular person is modified,” Mr Rees-Mogg mentioned.
Former cupboard workplace minister Steve Baker, who BBC projections gave lower than a 1% likelihood of holding onto his seat, mentioned his social gathering was having an “extremely troublesome night time”.
He mentioned Rishi Sunak had a “good thoughts” however acknowledged he had made errors throughout the marketing campaign, together with the choice to go away D-Day commemorations early, and that the outcomes regarded set to be “fairly devastating”.
