Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner has been unseated by the Tories in Bolsover. He had been the MP since 1970.

The “Beast Of Bolsover” finished more than 5,000 votes behind his Conservative challenger Mark Fletcher.

Skinner’s historic defeat looked likely after the shock exit poll that forecast an 86-seat majority for Boris Johnson’s party.

Bolsover was created in 1950 and since then has been represented by just two Labour MPs: Harold Neal and Skinner.

Skinner and Ken Clarke – who retired as of the end of the last parliament – had been the joint longest serving MPs in the House of Commons.

The Derbyshire constituency now has its first Conservative MP in Fletcher.

The Tories needed a swing of just 5.7% to overturn Labour’s majority of 5,288 – and recent polls had suggested it was possible.

The 87-year-old former miner had become synonymous with cracking a joke at the state opening of parliament.