Nick Clegg biggest casualty among General Election 'big beasts'

Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was the main casualty of election night - but far from the only "big beast" to lose his seat.

Mr Clegg won 19,756 votes in Sheffield Hallam, leaving him almost 1,500 short of Labour's 25-year-old candidate Jared O'Mara.

Speaking after losing his seat, the ex-Lib Dem leader said he had never "shirked a fight" but conceded: "You live by the sword, you die by the sword."

In a constituency dominated by two universities, Mr Clegg appeared to have finally paid the price for infamously reneging on his 2010 election pledge to block tuition fee increases.

The ardent pro-European warned there was an "agonising" future ahead for the next Government as it seeks to unite a divided country.

Alex Salmond, who led the SNP into the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, lost his Gordon seat to the Conservatives.

The former Scottish first minister won 19,254 votes, but was beaten by Conservative Colin Clark on 21,861.

He admitted the results had been a "grievous blow" for the SNP, but said his colleagues should use their influence at Westminster to "build a progressive alliance" and keep Theresa May out of Downing Street.

Rising Conservative star Ben Gummer - one of the architects of Theresa May's widely-panned manifesto - lost by 831 votes in Ipswich.

The Cabinet Office minister and son of former agriculture minister John Gummer - who had been defending a 3,733 majority - lost the seat to Labour's Sandy Martin.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd narrowly avoided a similar fate - enduring an anxious few hours as it became clear her 4,700 majority in Hastings and Rye had collapsed.

In the end she hung on - beating Labour's Peter Chowney by 346 votes following one recount.

The SNP's leader in the Commons Angus Robertson was defending a majority of nearly 10,000 in Moray.

But Nicola Sturgeon's deputy - one of the most consistent PMQs performers since 2015 - went down to Tory Douglas Ross.

Mr Robertson said: "It seems to me there's a lot of change going on. People are seeking answers to the complex questions that we all face."

Housing minister Gavin Barwell was another high-profile casualty.

Mr Barwell, who wrote a book called How To Win A Marginal Seat: My Year Fighting For My Political Life, lost Croydon Central to Labour's Sarah Jones by more than 5,000 votes.

Junior ministers James Wharton (Stockton South) and Jane Ellison (Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth) also lost their seats.