Arch-Brexiteer Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has lost his North East Somerset seat.
Sir Jacob, who was knighted last year, previously retained the seat in 2019 with a healthy majority of 14,729.
He started his career working for a hedge fund in the City before unsuccessfully standing in the 1997 and 2001 elections. However, he was victorious in 2010 and held the North East Somerset seat until now.
The former minister quickly garnered a reputation as a rebel by voting against legislation proposed by David Cameron and became well-known for some of his more unusual behaviour, such as going canvassing with his long-term nanny.
He campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum of 2016 and is a known ally of Boris Johnson who appointed him Leader of the House of Commons in 2019.
As well as being an MP, Sir Jacob has previously hosted a show on GB News.
Broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom that found two episodes of his show on violated due impartiality rules due to him “acting as a newsreader” while being a serving politician.
Sir Jacob was classified as having breached the broadcasting rules by Ofcom as he provided an update about the fatal stabbings in Nottingham on June 13, which took place on the same day.
The watchdog says this means he “presented” a news story directly to viewers after the programme received five complaints.
Defending himself against the ruling, Sir Jacob told Times Radio: “It is a barmy decision from Ofcom.
“I was talking about a stabbing – how can there be due impartiality? We know stabbing is bad. Would they get the stabber on there to argue why it wasn’t bad? It is an eccentric decision.”
He has also been a regular critic of green policies and called for them to be scrapped.
“What works is getting rid of unpopular, expensive green policies, and that is a real opportunity for us,” he told GB News.
Stressing that he supported working towards having a net zero carbon economy by 2050, the right-wing Tory said he wanted to “get rid” of the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars — announced during Mr Johnson’s premiership — arguing it was formulated “a few years ago in different circumstances”.
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