From left to right, Paul Sweeney, Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve and Tom Brake share their experience of losing their seatsImagine being sacked from your job. Imagine being replaced, in an instant, by someone who has spent several weeks slagging you off. Now imagine it happening on live TV., the former Labour MP for Glasgow North East, knows the “devastating” pain of being fired by the electorate as friends and family look on.
Conservative MP Michael Portillo, right, leaves after losing his Enfield Southgate seat to Labour’s Stephen Twigg in 1997 In a bid to “shake off the political cobwebs”, Mr Grieve spent months walking the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage across northern Spain. He discovered the pleasure of spending more time with his family.
Mr Sweeney got a couple of job interviews for business development roles in the shipbuilding industry. “I was probably a bit arrogant, thinking, ‘They’ll love having an ex-MP’. But they weren’t bothered.” Like Mr Grieve, Ms Soubry returned to her previous life as a barrister. The immediate aftermath of her election defeat was spent helping her staff find jobs.