Sawt Falasteen - Ex-prime minister Liz Truss loses seat at UK election

Truss's defeat came as the constituencies of all her predecessors since the Tories won power in 2010 turned either Labour or Liberal Democrat -- a damning indictment on the Conservatives' 14 years in power.

Truss, who sparked financial turmoil during her 49 chaotic days in charge in 2022, lost her Norfolk South West constituency in eastern England to Labour by 630 votes.

Labour candidate Terry Jermy overturned Truss's massive majority of more than 26,000 which she secured at the last election in 2019 -- a notional 27.85 percent swing.

Her defeat, announced shortly before 7:00 am (0600 GMT) capped a shocking performance for Rishi Sunak's Conservative party as Keir Starmer's Labour opposition won a landslide to return to power after 14 years.

Truss, a member of parliament since 2010, was slow hand-clapped onto the stage after keeping the other candidates waiting for several minutes. She left without making a speech.

But she told the BBC afterwards: "I think the issue we faced as Conservatives is we haven't delivered sufficiently on the policies people want."

Asked if she bore some responsibility, she said: "I agree. I was part of that. That's absolutely true."

Truss -- whose shelf-life as premier was lampooned as shorter than that of an Iceberg lettuce -- said she had "a lot to think about" when asked if she wanted to stay in politics.

Sunak held onto his seat in northern England but the Tories also lost the seats held by Truss's predecessors Boris Johnson, Theresa May, and David Cameron.

Labour took Johnson's previous constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in northwest London while May's ex-seat of Maidenhead, also near the capital, was gained by the smaller Liberal Democrats party.

The Liberal Democrats also won Cameron's old seat of Witney in Oxfordshire.

H.Nasr--SF-PST