This is how far you have to drive from Bristol to find a Tory MP now

It was the most astonishing election night in living memory in the West of England, as the Conservative vote collapsed, and Labour romped to victory in eight of the ten seats in the Bristol region. Not even Tony Blair’s Labour landslide of 1997 went this far.

Towns that have never before had Labour MPs - ever, in 120 years - now have them, from Portishead and Clevedon to Weston and Nailsea, as the political map in and around Bristol is a sea of red and Lib Dem yellow, with an island of Green in the centre.

Indeed, such was the Tory wipeout in the region and the surrounding counties that you would have to drive for around an hour from the middle of Bristol to find yourself in an area that still voted in a Conservative MP.

Read next: Green surge in Bristol makes them main challenger to Labour now

Read more: North East Somerset and Hanham result sees Dan Norris defeat Jacob Rees Mogg

In Bristol and the West of England, the only fly in the ointment of electoral success for Labour was a greenfly - Carla Denyer won Bristol Central by a bigger margin than anyone came close to predicting, wiping out the huge majorities Thangam Debbonaire gathered in the Corbyn years of 2017 and 2019.

In fact, the Green surge in Bristol itself could be a challenge for Labour at the next election - the Greens will go into that contest in 2028 or 2029 in a strong second place in Bristol East and Bristol South, and second too in the two Bristol North West and Bristol North East seats as well.

Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free here.

Labour’s other four MPs were re-elected as expected, and the red island that was Bristol before is now much bigger, as Claire Hazelgrove beat Jack Lopresti in Filton & Bradley Stoke, and Dan Norris beat Jacob Rees Mogg in NE Somerset & Hanham. The Conservative grandee took the seat from Mr Norris in 2010, prompting an 11 year spell in the political wilderness for the Labour veteran. Revenge for Mr Norris is a dish best served after 14 years in the freezer.

But the most astonishing results for Labour happened to the south of the city. In both North Somerset and in Weston they have never before had a Labour MP, but now both have.

Tory stalwarts John Penrose and Liam Fox - a man who survived the Labour landslide of 1997 and spent 32 years as North Somerset MP in one of the safest seats in the country, was beaten by just a few hundred votes.

The Lib Dems are also celebrating. The election map earlier this week was a small red island of Bristol surrounded by a sea of blue - now that sea is pretty much Lib Dem.

They beat the Tories in Thornbury & Yate, Tessa Munt got back into parliament in her old but redrawn seat of Wells & Mendip Hills, they won right across Somerset, and in Bath.

But most extraordinarily, the three seats nearest Bristol over the border into Wiltshire are now also Lib Dem - in Chippenham, Melksham & Devizes and in the South Cotswolds. The latter includes the home of the King of England at Highgrove, and the burial place of the first King of England, Athelstan, in Malmesbury. They have never elected an MP who wasn’t a Tory in living memory, but now it’s Lib Dem.

Across the region, there were personal stories aplenty. As well as Dan Norris’s 14-year wait for revenge over Jacob Rees Mogg, there was also the victory for Claire Young in Thornbury and Yate. She’s the Lib Dem leader of South Gloucestershire Council and tried - and failed - twice to be elected as the area’s MP, losing in 2017 and 2019 to Conservative Luke Hall. Seven years later, and she’s finally won at the third attempt, to join the growing army of Lib Dem MPs from the West Country heading to Westminster.

Then there’s Damien Egan, who took a punt last summer - a year ago this week - to throw his hat into the ring to be picked as the Labour candidate in the new constituency of Bristol North East. Everyone told him he had no chance - Labour Mayor Marvin Rees was a shoe-in for the job, but he took a sabbatical from his job as the Mayor of Lewisham, knocked on the door of every member of the Labour Party in the new constituency, was picked, and is now the Bristol North East MP, leaving Marvin Rees with a new job at the University of Bristol.

And then there’s Dan Aldridge, who went to school in Weston when John Penrose was elected as the Tory MP, in a town which has never before had a Labour MP. He’s now been elected as Weston’s first-ever Labour representative.

And then there were departing big names. In a tidal wave of Conservative defeats, the likes of the result declaration that sealed Jacob Rees Mogg’s fate in an echoing university hall in Bath was one of the night’s most-watched moments, along with a stunned looking Liam Fox realising his 32 years as North Somerset’s MP were over.

So the Conservative MPs in the West Country are now few and far between. Jacob Rees Mogg, John Penrose, Luke Hall and Liam Fox are gone. As is James Gray and Michelle Donelan in Wiltshire. The nearest Tory MP to Bristol depends on whereabouts in Bristol you are, but it’s a fair distance away.

It could be former South West MEP Ashley Fox, who clung on for the Tories in Bridgwater - a constituency that takes in a narrow seaside strip up the Bristol Channel including Burnham and Brean.

Or it could be over the other side of Bath and across a bit of Wiltshire to Trowbridge, where long-standing Tory MP Dr Andrew Murrison held his South West Wiltshire seat with a much-reduced majority.

The dominance of the Lib Dems, and Labour too, in our region make it so that it’s possible to drive towards London and get as far as Windsor before coming across a Tory MP, or drive further into the West Country as far as the outskirts of Exeter and remain in Lib Dem-held territory.