Former transport secretary Grant Shapps lost his Parliamentary seat as part of Labour’s landslide general election victory.
Shapps, who was defence secretary, was beaten by Labour in the Welwyn Hatfield seat.
Conservative transport secretary Mark Harper also lost his Forest of Dean seat to Labour.
Shapps was among the most senior members of former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet to lose their seat, including Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, ex-prime minister Liz Truss and former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.
In his concession speech, Shapps said that “what is crystal clear to me is not so much that Labour won this election, but rather the Conservatives have lost it”.
The party has forgotten the “fundamental rule of politics: people don’t vote for divided parties,” he added.
Labour officially won the 2024 general election after reaching the required 326 seats.
Industry leaders and public affairs specialists will be looking to engage with ministers in the new Labour government as soon as possible following the general election, with a raft of concerns they wish to see addressed.