‘You’re almost nobody’: What the defeated Tory MPs did next ...Middle East

While driving home from his constituency count on the morning after the election, one freshly defeated Tory MP recalled how he “burst into tears for the first time in years”.

He was one of the 218 MPs whose seats changed hands at the general election earlier this year, a seismic shift which paved the way for Labour to take power for the first time in 14 years.

“It was gut-wrenching. I’d never been fired from a job before,” he told The i Paper. “Once I spoke to my wife, I was able to feel okay about what had happened. My family were the thing that got me through it.”

175 of the MPs defeated at the general election were Conservatives and in the five months that have followed, many have been grappling with what life holds with them now they’re no longer in the Commons.

Several have expressed difficulties in finding work, sometimes because of their career as an MP, while others are hoping to continued careers in politics either through by-elections or running for mayoralities.

Some were more stoic about their departure from political life. A second former Conservative said he was “disappointed but not astonished to lose”, having expected that his party was on track for a major defeat.

Despite expecting to lose, the MP did say it felt “brutal” to go from a politician to a civilian overnight, adding: “You were someone whose opinion mattered the day before, and the day after, you realise your opinion doesn’t matter at all. You’re almost nobody.”

Alexander Stafford, the former MP for Rother Valley, told The i Paper he felt “sadness and great frustration” on election night. Despite losing only 10 per cent of the vote share – far below the average Tory swing – he lost his seat to Labour by 998 votes.

The departure from political life was particularly hard on his two young children, he added, as they attended nursery in London and “couldn’t say goodbye” to their friends and teachers.

But there was a small silver lining to his defeat as his older brother, Greg Stafford, kept politics in the family by successfully becoming the new Tory MP for Farnham and Bordon.

“I’d have loved there to be two Staffords in Parliament… but I’m really happy for him. He wanted it for a very long time and he’s going to be great,” he said.

Like many defeated MPs, he spent the summer months on holiday with his family before getting involved in the Conservative leadership race – in his case, supporting the eventual winner, Kemi Badenoch.

“The main thing I’ve done the last few months is spending time with my family, especially my youngest, who is only two. I didn’t appreciate how little quality time I was getting to spend with her before,” he said.

The next step for Stafford, like the rest of his defeated cohort, is to work out what the next step is in their careers.

Some former MPs have shared how their public personas have made the job search hard. Jonathan Gullis, the former MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, told the BBC in October that he’d had no job interviews in the three months since losing his seat.

Known for his outspoken views while in parliament, Gullis said he felt that “in some schools, with some teachers, my views won’t be something that is popular”.

The Government shift has also held some Tories back. Another ex-MP said they had been turned away from a job in public affairs because “people want you to have a Labour contact book” and that there were “very few political jobs outside CCHQ for someone with Conservative links”.

Stafford said that there was “nothing I said or did as MP that I, frankly, feel embarrassed by or ashamed of” but acknowledged that there were some people who, because of “their personal bias, don’t want an ex-Tory MP to work with them”.

Though on the job hunt, his focus for now is on his family, as his wife is expecting their third child next year. Having previously worked for Shell and WWF before becoming an MP, he wants to find a role in the energy or climate change sector.

Another former MP polishing off their CV is Matt Warman, who was one of the few Tories to lose their seats to Reform at the election. His seat of Boston and Skegness was taken by the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice.

While some of his former colleagues took time off, Warman said he entered job-hunting mode straight away.

“Lots of people say you should take a holiday and regroup to work out what to do after. I was horrified,” he said. “How absurd to take a holiday from unemployment – it felt like rubbing in the fact that it wasn’t recess if you’re not going back.”

One option for newly departed MPs is to find another route back into politics. Several former Tories, including Warman and former Mansfield MP Bed Bradley, unsuccessfully tried to become candidates for Lincolnshire Mayor.

Others have had more success, such as ex-Peterborough MP Paul Bristow, who has been selected as the Conservative candidate to become Mayor of Cambridgeshire.

Some are looking for paychecks in the media instead. Former Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has his own reality TV show, Meet The Rees-Moggs, on Discovery+, and ex-party chairman Jake Berry is taking on presenting shifts at GB News.

Many have also returned to their pre-Commons careers. Two former justice secretaries – Robert Buckland and Alex Chalk – have returned to practising law after being defeated at the election.

Warman, however, is hoping to find work related to his former ministerial role. “I’m lucky in that I’ve always been focused on one thing: technology. I only ever worked in one department, and I only ever made a fuss about one thing,” he said.

“If you’ve been a minister, you can create yourself into something post-parliament much more easily, although there are still definitely some ministers who have struggled for a whole host of reasons.”

The choice that he and many others must make, however, is whether to shelve their political ambitions or hope for a comeback when the next election is held.

“I would absolutely like to keep the option open, at least, for some kind of political return. My aim now is to find roles that are compatible with that,” Warman reflected.

Stafford, too, is not ruling out a return to the Commons. He said: “Four years is a long time, but it’s my duty. Rother Valley is where we live, and I want to keep the pressure on Labour, I want to make sure the projects I started are delivered.

“I’ve never seen a government of any colour make a hash of things so quickly… in Rother Valley, lots of people who did vote for Labour are now having massive regrets.”

However, the return of defeated Tories could be coming sooner than the next election. Many high-profile figures like Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps are slated to make a comeback, with some suggesting they could be first in line for the next by-election

I enjoyed Meet the Rees-Moggs - and I’m ashamed

One ex-MP said the first by-election in a Tory-leaning seat would likely be “besieged” by applications from those who lost at the last election, and that the popularity of the candidate would be a big factor in who was chosen.

“It’s not about your ability to get people in a room or make the best speech [at a candidate selection meeting]. It’s about who can win,” they reflected.

But the ex-MP who broke down on election night has no hopes of a return, and hopes to start a new career in his home town.

“Politics is a brutal business, and I’ve had enough of it,” he reflected. “I think many of my former colleagues would do well to try real life for a change rather then plot their comeback.”

MPs’ severance payments could top £10m

Severance and other payouts for former MPs could hit £10.2m this year following Labour’s landslide election victory in July, according to analysis by The i Paper – more than the last three general elections combined.

Under current rules, all ex-MPs who either stood down or were defeated at the election were entitled to a severance payment – known as a winding-up payment – of around £21,000, equivalent to four months of their MP salary after tax.

This is to cover the costs of closing their office and managing the departure of their staff, including salaries, over the four-month winding up period.

Once this is paid to the 344 MPs who left the Commons earlier this year, the total estimated bill comes to just under £7.3m.

In addition to the winding up payment, former MPs defeated at the election are entitled to a loss of office payment equivalent to double the statutory redundancy rate.

An analysis by The i Paper found that 216 of the 218 MPs who lost their seats in July were eligible for a loss of office payment ranging from £4,200 to the maximum payout of £42,000, with the total for these payments hitting just over £4m.

The total estimated figure for the 2024 election is larger than the loss of office payouts from the last three general elections combined, with £827,600 paid to 71 defeated MPs in 2019 and £569,400 paid to 64 defeated MPs in 2017.

A total of £2.7m was also paid to 89 departing MPs in 2015, but this was the last year of the previous payout scheme, which saw many MPs given the equivalent of half their annual salary.

Two-month winding-up payments were first introduced in 2018 at all subsequent elections and by-elections, and in 2023, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) doubled the entitlement to four months of a departing MP’s salary.

According to IPSA accounts, a total of £1.3m was paid in severance to the 147 MPs who left the Commons in 2019.

Although the total loss of office payments awarded to defeated MPs has not been confirmed, analysis by The i Paper suggests it has likely reached at least ...

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