Can Penny Mordaunt still become Conservative leader after she loses seat?
Much-loved in Tory ranks, the former leader of the House of Commons has long been tipped to be the next leader of the party - but is it still possible?
Talk about Portillo moments - the loss of Penny Mordaunt as an MP was one of the most shocking developments in a terrible night for the Tories.
Ms Mordaunt has long been tipped as the future leader of the Conservative Party and so it’ll come as an extra blow to those who harboured hopes of her at the helm.
The former Leader of the House of Commons lost her seat - Portsmouth North - to Labour's Amanda Martin by fewer than 1,000 votes.
It might surprise some to know, however, that although very unlikely it’s not totally impossible that she is installed as the new top Tory.
Our first bit of evidence is the Conservative Party constitution which states - that the leader of the party "shall be drawn from those elected to Parliament".
But constitutions can be changed. The second bit of evidence is the example of Nigel Farage - who has been leader of Reform UK without being a sitting MP. Of course that has now changed as he takes his seat in the House of Commons for the first time after his victory in Clacton.
As the Institute for Government explains: “Among smaller parties, it is quite common for party leaders not to sit in the House of Commons.”
“The leaders of the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, Ulster Unionist Party and deputy leader of Sinn Féin are all elected in their respective devolved institutions.
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“The Green Party’s two co-leaders are not elected MPs.”
So what is the appetite of the Conservative Party to make such a move? Well there is a semi-precedent in the shape of David Cameron. By being made a peer the party was able to make him Foreign Secretary, despite retiring as an MP seven years ago.
Exclusive polling by WeThink showed that although a narrow majority of voters (52 per cent) do not know whom they want to see at the top of the party, when these were excluded Ms Mordaunt is the choice of 39 per cent of British adults and half of Tory supporters.
Ms Mordaunt also won praise for going on the attack in the election campaign, fronting the two seven-way television debates for the Tories.
Ms Mordaunt told her area’s new Labour MP Ms Martin: "You are now working for the best employer ever - the people of Portsmouth are wonderful, hard-working, big-hearted and anything that I ever achieved was made possible by them."
