Zero MPs left for Tories in Inner London in historic wipeout but they hold onto seats in suburbs

The Tories were wiped out in Inner London for the first time ever as they lost their last three remaining seats to Labour.

In Chelsea and Fulham, the contest went down to the wire with Labour’s Ben Coleman being declared the winner over London minister Greg Hands shortly after 6.30am, by just 152 votes.

By then the Conservatives had already lost Cities of London and Westminster, which includes Buckingham Palace, the Square Mile and Parliament, as well as the new seat of Kensington and Bayswater.

The triple loss meant that there are now zero Tory MPs in Inner London for the first time ever.

But Labour jubilation was slightly tempered by Jeremy Corbyn, standing as an independent, beating the party’s candidate in Islington North.

In Outer London, the Conservatives did better than the polls had predicted.

Labour storm to General Election 2024 win

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Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith won in Chingford and Woodford Green, policing minister Chris Philp held on in Croydon South, as did Julia Lopez, minister of state for tourism, media and creative industries, in Hornchurch and Upminster, and justice minister Gareth Bacon in Orpington.

The Conservatives also retained Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, Harrow East, Romford, Old Bexley and Sidcup, and Bromley and Biggin Hill, the latter by just 302 votes.

But they lost Chipping Barnet, which had been held by former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, Finchley and Golders Green, and Bexleyheath and Crayford to Labour.

The Liberal Democrats seized from the Tories the seats of Wimbledon, Sutton and Cheam, and Carshalton and Wallington.

The exit poll had suggested the Tories faced being down to the three seats of Orpington, Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, and Hornchurch and Upminster, and even those would be “close call”.

However, early indications suggested that in some parts of Britain, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK while eating into the Tory vote, and to a less extent Labour’s, was not doing quite as well as the exit poll had pointed to when it was announced shortly after 10pm.

That may have helped some of the Tories in Outer London keep their seats.

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The exit poll experts compile a large scale survey of voters across the country from which likely outcomes in individual constituencies can be calculated.

The seat-by-seat predictions are more likely to be open to error than the national picture as they are not able to take fully into account of local factors, such as Mr Corbyn standing in Islington North as an independent.

Lord Jo Johnson, Conservative peer and brother of former PM Boris Johnson, said the Tories were in danger of being “drummed out” of London and that it would be a “big mistake” if the party stops trying to appeal to a range of voters.

He told Sky News: “These elections do raise a really important issue as to whether it’s a sensible thing for the Conservatives to try to be ‘Reform-lite’ and expect that to be a winning political strategy, it doesn’t look to be from what we’re seeing today.”