Three quarters of ousted Tory MPs eyeing a return to Westminster

Three-quarters of former Conservative MPs who lost their seats in the last election are preparing to try to make a comeback, a new study suggests.

According to a poll by Conservatives Together – a network chaired by Grant Shapps, the former defense secretary – only 10 out of 88 former Tory MPs surveyed have ruled out standing again. Another 38 said they would “definitely” run, while 25 indicated they were “leaning” to renew their campaign for office.

Among those considering a return are prominent former MPs Penny Mordaunt, who remains on the party’s candidate list, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said he was “strongly considering” a return to Parliament. Sir Nick Gibb, Sir Ranil Jayawardena and Sir Marcus Jones – who all lost their seats – were awarded knighthoods in the New Year Honors List.

Shapps, who lost the Welwyn-Hatfield constituency and now leads the Conservative Party together, said he was not ruling out a return. “It is difficult to sit on the sidelines and not feel this pull,” he noted, adding that any decision “will ultimately depend on the voters.”

Conservatives Together is modeled on Labor Together, a group previously run by Morgan McSweeney, who is currently the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. It combines training of potential Conservative MPs with analysis of local opinion polls to fuel party strategy. Early research suggests that Labor remains the Conservative Party’s main rival, with the UK Reform Party acting more as a ‘vote splitter’ than a serious rival.

A recent report by Conservatives Together criticized the party’s use of social media during the previous campaign, accusing it of “stupidity” for neglecting TikTok and failing to appeal to younger voters. Shapps said the decision to call the election on July 4 last year was taken “without adequate understanding, consultation, warning or preparation,” adding that the resulting vacuum allowed the Reform Party to outperform the Conservatives on major digital platforms.

Lord Kempsell, who co-leads the group with Shapps, warned that Conservative support was now shifting heavily towards the elderly, with the average age of a likely Tory voter being 63, compared to a much younger figure in 2019. To help Reconstruction, believes the party must “master” social media, “not just engage in it,” if it hopes to connect with a broader swath of voters.