Defeated Tory Candidates Invited To Join Campaign Review After Election Drubbing

Conservative candidates who failed to win their seats at the General Election have been invited by the party chairman take part in a major review into where the campaign went wrong.

Richard Fuller, the new chairman of the Tory party and MP for North Bedfordshire, last week emailed unsuccessful candidates asking them discuss their experiences of the campaign trail with him over a series of meetings in August.

They have been given the opportunity to meet with Fuller in small groups in "virtual sessions" to discuss what the Conservatives "did right" during the six-week campaign, and "more importantly" how the operation could improve. 

Allocations for each virtual meeting will be handed out on a first-come-first-serve basis, candidates were told in the email seen by PoliticsHome.

The Conservatives suffered their worst ever election defeat on 4 July, losing 251 House of Commons seats. Keir Starmer became Prime Minister — and the first Labour leader to win an election since 2005  — by securing a 172-seat majority.

The result has left the Tories with a 121 MPs — putting them closer to third place Liberal Democrats than Labour in terms of House of Commons seats.

Fuller was appointed the party's new chair by Rishi Sunak following the election, replacing Richard Holden who decided to resign following the defeat.

In his email to defeated Tory candidates, he said Conservative Party Headquarters (CCHQ) would carry out a post-general election review on how to rebuild the party. 

"Our party will now have to rebuild after last week's result and part of this process will be a period of introspection and options and recommendations for improvement.

If we are to rebuild in a timely manner and carry out our role as His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, we