High-profile Conservative lawyers ousted in election landslide

Lord chancellor Alex Chalk has lost his Cheltenham parliamentary seat, becoming the first cabinet minister to be defeated on a dramatic general election night. 

The Conservative had been expected to struggle to defend a narrow majority in a seat he first won in 2015. He lost by of more than 7,000 votes to Liberal Democrat Max Wilkinson.

Chalk told Channel Four: ‘It is really tough, it’s a very bleak result but I do hope and expect that some of our talented colleagues will remain to rebuild and re-earn the trust of the British people and I think they can do that.’

Former lord chancellor Robert Buckland was the first lawyer casualty of the general election as he lost his South Swindon seat. Buckland, who held the justice brief from 2019 to 2021, lost to Labour’s Heidi Alexander by 9,606 votes in one of the highest-profile early defeats for the Conservatives.

The Conservative vote in South Swindon was down by 25% as his majority of more than 6,600 was wiped out.

Speaking to Sky News, Buckland said: ‘That’s politics. I have lost before. I have won four elections on the trot and I am used to what defeat looks like. But my political life is not over.’ Buckland will have legal work to fall back on: he is head of policy and senior counsel for London firm Payne Hicks Beach.

In one of the biggest surprises of the night, attorney general Victoria Prentis lost her Banbury seat to Labour. It was the first time the Conservatives had relinquished the seat for 106 years and Prentis had previously enjoyed a majority of more than 16,000.

James Daly, a defence solicitor before becoming an MP, always faced a tough task defending a 105 majority in Bury North. His opponent in 2019, Labour’s James Frith, took the seat with a majority of almost 7,000.

Former family law solicitor Siobhan Baillie was another Conservative to lose her seat to Labour, as her vote share in Stroud fell by 25%.

In Darlington, solicitor Peter Gibson lost for the Conservatives to Labour by a majority of just over 2,000.

Former Freshfields associate Sam Joynson was unable to hold onto Eastleigh for the Conservatives. The seat had been won by the Conservatives in 2019 with a majority of 15,607 but was taken by the Liberal Democrats this time by around 1,500 votes.

John Stevenson, a solicitor and partner with Carlisle firm Bendles, had been Conservative MP for the town since 2010 but lost to Labour by more than 7,000 votes.

Solicitor Simon Clarke, who was also the government’s levelling up secretary, lost his Middlesbrough South seat to Labour which he had held since 2017.

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer, a barrister and former justice minister, lost her Ely & East Cambridgeshire seat to the Liberal Democrats.

But a new swath of lawyers will enter parliament after this election.

Kevin Bonavia, a civil litigation solicitor with east London firm Edwards Duthie Shamash, won bellwether Stevenage for Labour with a majority of more than 6,500.

Tony Vaughan, a barrister of 17 years call, pulled off a surprise victory in Folkstone & Hythe, where the incumbent Damien Collins had a majority of more than 21,000. Vaughan won with a majority of 3,729.

Barrister Catherine Atkinson won the Derby North seat for Labour from the Conservatives with 18,619 votes.

In Amber Valley, the Conservatives were defending a majority of almost 17,000 but the seat was taken for Labour by former Crown prosecutor Linsey Farnsworth.

Child protection barrister Jake Richards unseated Conservative Alexander Stafford in Rother Valley with a 14% majority.

Abtisam Mohamed, a solicitor who founded her own practice in 2014, took Sheffield Central with 16,569 votes ahead of the second-placed Green Party candidate.

Employment solicitor Jon Pearce took High Peak for Labour from the Conservatives and delivered a majority of almost 8,000.

Solicitor Alex McIntyre pulled off a significant turnaround, winning Gloucester for Labour from the Conservatives with a majority of around 3,400. The previous MP Richard Graham had held the seat since 2010 and had a majority of more than 10,000.

Thompsons Solicitors’ senior personal injury lawyer Warinder Juss won the newly-created seat Wolverhampton West for Labour. He secured 44% of the vote, beating the Conservative candidate who managed 26%.

Employment solicitor Sarah Russell overturned a Conservative majority of 18,561 to win Congleton for Labour – the first time her party has ever held this seat. She secured a majority of more than 3,000.

Labour’s Lucy Rigby, a partner at City firm Hausfeld & Co, won Northampton North from the Conservatives with a comfortable 43.5% of the vote.

Solicitor Alex Barros-Curtis, Labour Party's executive director of legal affairs and once an associate with Allen & Overy, held onto the safe seat of Cardiff West, which had been vacated by Kevin Brennan.

Barrister Sarah Sackman won for Labour in Margaret Thatcher’s old constituency of Finchley and Golders Green, securing a 4,581 majority. She practices public law from Matrix Chambers.

 A handful of Conservative solicitors will enter the House of Commons for the first time after winning their seats: Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire), Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) and Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East).