As the election results rolled in in the small hours of Friday, there was a steady drumbeat of Tory big beasts being ousted across the country. From Liz Truss to Penny Mordaunt to Jacob Rees-Mogg, name a Tory MP and there is a two in three chance they are out.

The recriminations were quick to begin – on losing his seat, Robert Buckland pointed the finger of blame at Suella Braverman and those colleagues who were most interested in posturing than delivering. Others criticised Rishi Sunak for calling an election when the party was not ready for it.

It means there is – as expected – plenty of Tory misery to go around. “What a complete catastrophe,” says a former minister of the result.

“I woke up and asked if I was leader yet by virtue of being the only MP left,” says one Tory who survived the avalanche of anti-Tory votes.

It’s hard on the surface for anyone in the Tory party to find much reason for positivity when it comes to the result. It is the Tories’ worst defeat in modern history – and worse than Labour’s heavy defeat under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.

But despite this, some of the remaining Tory MPs are forcing themselves to find reasons to hope that their time in wilderness could be shorter than many expect.

First, the result is awful – but it is not the worst-case scenario that some pollsters forecast. An MRP poll this week........

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