The Liberal Democrats have taken a record number of seats for the party in the general election.
Ed Davey’s party has ousted four cabinet ministers and denied the Tories success in constituencies once held by former prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
With 641 results declared, the Lib Dems’ tally stood at 71, beating the party’s previous record of 62 under Charles Kennedy’s leadership in 2005.
In early results, the Lib Dems ousted Gillian Keegan, the education secretary – her Chichester seat had a 21,500 majority in 2019 and had been held by the Conservatives for a century – and Alex Chalk, the justice secretary.
By Friday morning, the party had won 71 seats, with only a handful to be declared making it their highest total since 1923, when they were just the Liberal party led by Herbert Asquith.
Speaking after winning his Kingston and Surbiton seat again by more than 17,000 votes, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said many voters had turned to his party for the first time to be their “champions”. » | Peter Walker, Senior political correspondent | Friday, July 5, 2024
