Lib Dems oust Cabinet ministers but fail to clinch Chancellor’s Surrey seat
The Lib Dems had taken 11.5% of the overall vote.
The Liberal Democrats have ousted several Tory ministers but just failed to clinch the seat of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Sir Ed Davey’s party had hoped to win Godalming and Ash, with party sources claiming the victory would be “quite the moment” early in the evening, but its voters elected Mr Hunt with a majority of 891.
But the Liberal Democrats did manage to oust Justice Secretary Alex Chalk in Cheltenham, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan in Chichester and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer in Ely and East Cambridgeshire.
The party has also won Witney in Oxfordshire, once the seat of former prime minister Lord Cameron.
At 6am, the Lib Dems had taken 56 seats – far surpassing their 2019 general election tally of 11.
