Labour landslide sees all Tory housing ministers lose their seats

The Labour landslide today with a forecasted majority of 176 once all the results are in has been bad news for many of the ‘revolving door’ Tory housing ministers who have governed the housing market over the past 14 years.

While Housing Secretary Michael Gove did not stand, all of his now former housing ministers lost their seats to Labour including Jacob Young, Lee Rowley and Felicity Buchan.

Many of their predecessors have now also left the political stage after losing their seats, including Rachel Maclean, Eddie Hughes and Grant Shapps. The rest have not stood for parliament.

These include Mark Prisk, Kirs Hopkins, Sajid Javid, Brandon Lewis, Gavin Barwell, Alok Sharma, Dominic Raab, Kit Malthouse, Stuart Andrew, Marcus Jones and Lucy Frazer. One former housing secretary, Simon Clarke, lost to Labour at his constituence in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

One survivor is Esther McVey, who was a housing minister for seven months during 2019 and 2020. She won her Tatton constituency with a majority of 1,000.

Truss out

The two politicians blamed most squarely for the Tory rout – former prime minister Liz Truss and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have also left parliament, Kwarteng after deciding not to stand in this election and Truss after losing to Labour narrowly in South Norfolk, where her huge majority at the last election was turned into a Labour majority of 630.

Theresa Coffey, who ran the Department of Work and Pensions for three years overseeing the housing benefit system, has lost her Suffolk Coastal seat, losing to Labour by 1,000 votes.

New ministers

So who will be running the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the coming days?

The current shadow team is Angela Rayner as housing secretary supported by housing ministers Matthew Pennycook – who was very active while the Renters (Reform) Bill was making its way through parliament earlier this year – and Mike Amesbury, who looks after the building safety and homelessness briefs.

One name missing from the list will be Thangham Debbonaire, who for a while was vocal housing spokesperson for Labour inside and outside parliament during 2020 and 2021. But she has unusually lost her Bristol West seat to the Greens by a whopping 10,000 votes, although during the campaign she was concerned by some postal votes not arriving in time.

Agent MPs

One estate agent hoping to join Parliament was Maxine Fothergill, who didn’t manage to dislodge Conservative candidate Louie French, albeit gaining 10,384 votes for the Reform Party in Old Bexley and Sidcup.

Kevin Hollinrake, who has been MP for Thirsk and Malton but who is best known within the property sector for founding estate agency Hunters, has retained his seat with a nearly 8,000 majority.