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General election: Chuka Umunna defeated by Tory after defecting from Labour

Alamy Live News
Alamy Live News

The former Labour defector Chuka Umunna has failed in his attempt to win the Cities of London and Westminster seat for the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Umunna increased the Lib Dems’ share of the vote by almost 20 per cent in the central London seat to leapfrog Labour into second place, but fell around 4,000 votes short of overhauling Conservative Vickie Aiken.

He appeared to be a victim of the failure of tactical voting campaigns to unite the pro-referendum vote, with Lib Dems, Labour and Greens polling more than 25,000 votes together, against the Conservatives’ 17,000.

The former Streatham MP was the most prominent of the 11 Labour MPs to quit the party in February to form The Independent Group, and then joined Lib Dems after the grouping split after a disastrous showing in the European elections as Change UK.

Umunna, 41, served in the shadow cabinet of Ed Miliband and briefly flirted with a run for the Labour leadership in 2015 before pulling out. His move to the Liberal Democrats sparked speculation that he could eventually lead the party, and he was soon installed as foreign affairs spokesman.

Alongside Luciana Berger and Sam Gyimah, he was one of a group of high-profile defectors placed in challenging Tory-held seats in London in what may now be seen as an overly audacious attempt by Lib Dems to exploit the strong Remain sympathies of the capital.

Westminster Council leader Ms Aiken held the Cities constituency for Tories with 17,049 votes to Mr Umunna’s 13,096, with Labour taking 11,624 and Greens 728.