Rishi Sunak has flown back to London from Yorkshire, where he conceded that Keir Starmer has won and issued a grovelling apology. The premier will not return to Downing Street , where he is expected to say a few valedictory words before heading to see the King and formally resign.
In an ironic full-circle moment, rain is falling in Westminster - echoing the miserable start to his ill-fated gamble, when he was drenched while announcing the snap election. The traditional choreography comes as Labour's majority ticks up to , just short of Tony Blair 's in , with just a few seats left to declare. The Tories look to be struggling to reach MPs, easily worse than their previous nadir of in The Lib Dems also inflicted massive pain on the Tories, racking up a record 71 seats as Reform leeched millions of votes and came second in around a hundred constituencies - but only scored four MPs of their own.
Former prime minister Liz Truss has sensationally lost her seat in the Tory election bloodbath. Ms Truss, who was premier for just 49 days in , lost her Norfolk South West seat to Labour by just seats after the largest swing from the Tories to Labour ever. Terry Jermy overturned a 26, majority won by Ms Truss in after Reform and an independent campaign by the 'Turnip Taliban' - a group of local disgruntled ex-Tories - whittled down her support.
Ms Truss, who led the country from September 6 to October 25 following Boris Johnson's resignation, was the latest Tory heavyweight to suffer at the hands of the electorate on a disastrous night - and morning - for the party. On a humiliating night for Rishi Sunak's party, some of the Conservatives' biggest names - including a record number of frontbenchers - lost their seats as Labour stormed to an historic landslide win.
Other graphics lay bare the race to form a majority, with parties needing to win MPs to govern independently, as well as how the Tories and Labour performed compared to Follow MailOnline's live election coverage as the Tories are expected to be slashed from the secured less than five years ago to just - their worst performance in modern political history. At last, it's over. After six long weeks of excruciating, disingenuous and sometimes dishonest campaigning, Labour is back in power.
