Video: Kenilworth and Southam MP Sir Jeremy Wright describes ‘difficult time to be a politician’

Despite a wipeout up and down the land for the Tories, Mr Wright, who has been in situ since 2010, still has a majority of more than 6,000, albeit significantly down from his cushion of more than 20,000 in 2019.

He mustered 19,395 votes to beat Labour’s Cat Price (12,821) and Liberal Democrat candidate Jenny Wilkinson (10,464) without too much trouble but acknowledged it would not have been easy for constituents to keep the faith in an election that saw many senior Tories bite the dust amid a Labour landslide.

“It has been a difficult time to be a politician or a candidate, regardless of how well your party is doing,” he said.

“I want to pay tribute to everyone who has put themselves forward to be assessed for office and I am grateful to you all for doing that.

“I know that for many of the people who voted Conservative, that was not an easy decision to make.

“I know, too, that many of those people have invested a huge amount of trust in me and I will do my very best to repay that trust.”

It was one of the few seats that did not see the Conservatives hit by the Reform UK vote – although Jacqui Harris did surprise many of the

traditional parties by tallying 6,920 votes to finish a clear fourth ahead of the Green Party’s Alix Dearing (3,125), Nick Green of the Monster Raving Loony Party (442) and Paul De’Ath of UKIP (153).

Turnout was down to 75.5 per cent from 77.2 per cent in 2019.

Labour won the UK general election in a landslide - Sir Keir Starmer will be the new prime minister.

After 14 years, the Conservatives lost power in a ‘catastrophic’ defeat.

The Liberal Democrats made huge gains, while the SNP lost dozens of seats.

High-profile Conservative casualties included former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny Mordaunt.