Rishi Sunak spends weekend ringing MPs who lost their seat

Rishi Sunak spent his weekend ringing Tory MPs who lost their seats at the general election. Conservative politicians who were voted out on July 4 have told The Telegraph that the Tory leader has phoned them personally to apologise for the near-wipeout.

Scores of Tory MPs – including 12 Cabinet members – lost their seats in the party’s worst-ever election result.

One MP who lost their job said the former prime minister appeared emotional during their call, noting that he must feel “dreadful”.

“He took the time to ring me on a Saturday night and I think he’s taken the time to ring other MPs. He was ringing to say that he was incredibly sorry that I’d lost my seat,” they said.

The former MP said it was a “very sympathetic call”, lasting “at least five minutes or so”. They added: “It wasn’t just hello and goodbye – he took the time to have a chat.”

Asked if Mr Sunak seemed emotional, the former MP said: “Yeah, I mean… It was a very nice call. I think it shows what a caring, decent, honourable man he is.”

Another MP voted out on Thursday said the Tory leader rang them to apologise, telling The Telegraph: “He was very pleasant, so I was in return – even though before I picked up I was not sure I was going to be.”

A third MP who lost their seat confirmed they had been contacted by Mr Sunak, but did not provide any further details about the call.

The former prime minister offered a blanket apology to Tory MPs who were defeated on July 4 – and to the British public at large – in his final speech on the steps of Downing Street on Friday.

“To the country, I would like to say, first and foremost – I am sorry. I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal that the Government of the United Kingdom must change and yours is the only judgement that matters,” he said.

“I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss. To all the Conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly but without success, I am sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved.”

In an extraordinary night for British politics, Labour took nearly two-thirds of all seats at the general election, securing a majority rivalling Sir Tony Blair’s in 1997.

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, defence secretary Grant Shapps, Welsh secretary David TC Davies, transport secretary Mark Harper, attorney general Victoria Prentis and veterans minister Johnny Mercer all lost to Labour.

Meanwhile, education secretary Gillian Keegan, justice secretary Alex Chalk, science secretary Michelle Donelan, culture secretary Lucy Frazer and illegal immigration minister Michael Tomlinson fell to the Liberal Democrats.

George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, said on Thursday night that Mr Sunak had led the party to its “Waterloo”.

But he told ITV the results were not quite as bad as some polls had been predicting, adding: “There’ll be a bit of a sigh of relief, even though it’s the worst result since 1832, when the Duke of Wellington was running the Tory party. So this one feels more like the Tory party’s Waterloo, frankly.”

The Duke of Wellington’s forces beat those of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 before he took the party to a historic defeat.