Suella Braverman gave an emotional speech after holding her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville. She said she was sorry her party “did not keep our promises”.
The former Home Secretary held her seat after winning 36,459 votes, with Labour candidate Gemma Furnivall garnering just 10,374.
She used her victory speech to apologise to the country for the Tories’ conduct in power – saying “we did not keep our promises.”
She said: “Let me address the election in the rest of the country, and there’s only one thing I can say.
“I’m sorry my party didn’t listen to you. The Conservative Party has let you down. The great British people voted for us over 14 years and we did not keep our promises.
“We’ve acted like we’re entitled to your vote… We need to learn our lesson because if we don’t, bad as tonight has been for our party, we’ll have many worse nights to come.
“The country deserves better and we’ve got to do better and I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust.
“We need to listen to you. You have spoken to us very clearly.”
Ms Braverman, a likely leadership contender if Rishi Sunak quits following the election, said: “I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust.
“We need to listen to you, you have spoken to us very clearly.”
Addressing her team, Ms Braverman also said: “You even got me to join TikTok, which was quite an achievement, so thank you for going the extra mile and for always remaining cheerful and professional.”
She added: “The people of Fareham and Waterlooville are the best of Britain – patriotic, common sense, kindly, dedicated, enterprising – and I’m humbled to continue as your servant in Parliament.”
However critics were quick to criticise her comments, with former Tory MP Rory Stewart saying: “That is a very very odd statement to make at your count… this is an attempt to pitch the party to the right.”
Outgoing Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said: “Absolutely disgraceful speech. On a really difficult night for the Conservative party that was just the bottom.”
