Penny Mordaunt has said the Conservative Party failed to honour "the trust that people had placed in it" as she lost her Portsmouth North seat. 

The former Leader of the House of Commons failed to secure re-election after Labour's Amanda Martin secured just 780 more votes. 

Ms Mordaunt, 51, was hotly tipped to run for the party leadership again had she managed to keep her seat and said she will “never stop caring” for the people of Portsmouth.

She held the Portsmouth North constituency since 2010 and admitted this morning that the Conservatives had taken a "battering".

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She said: “Tonight, the Conservative Party has taken a battering because it failed to honour the trust that people had placed in it. You can speak all you like of security and freedom, but you can’t have either if you are afraid.

“Afraid about the cost of living or accessing healthcare, or whether the responsibility you shoulder will be recognised and rewarded. That fear steals the future, and it only makes the present matter and that is why we lost.

“Our renewal as a party and a country will not be achieved by us talking to an ever smaller slice of ourselves but being guided by the people of our country. And if we want again to be the natural party of government, then our values must be the people’s.

“I’ve lost many good colleagues tonight but I hope that like me they intend to carry on serving their communities with even stronger heart, our country needs all of us.”