Comedy club owner Tommy Sheppard loses his seat

The Stand's director is no longer an SNP MP

The founder of The Stand comedy clubs has lost his seat in Westminster.

Tommy Sheppard had been the SNP MP for Edinburgh East since 2015, but last night had his 10,417 majority overturned as part of the nationalist rout across Scotland.

But last night Chris Murray took the seat for Labour with 18,790 votes to Sheppard’s 15,075 – a 3,715 majority.

After his defeat, he said: ‘Thank you to everyone who supported me at this election and I’d like to congratulate Chris Murray and wish him well.

It’s been the privilege of my life to represent East Edinburgh and I will continue to play a part in building a future as an independent Scotland.’

Sheppard stepped back from the daily running of The Stand’s venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle to follow his political career but remains a director alongside comics Miles Jupp and Paul Sneddon, among others.

Thank you to everyone who supported me at this election and I’d like to congratulate Chris Murray and wish him well.
It’s been the privilege of my life to represent East Edinburgh and I will continue to play a part in building a future as an independent Scotland. pic.twitter.com/zhj6vNngPz
— Tommy Sheppard (@TommySheppard) July 5, 2024

Before the result was announced he told the Edinburgh Reporter: ‘Overall, it’s not looking like a vintage night for the SNP. I think it’s going to be one of our worst election results in a long time. We’re not immune to the tide that is washing over the country.

‘An awful lot of people were seduced by the Labour message, that you can protest against The Tories all you like, but you can only replace them with a Labour government.’

The constituency’s boundaries changed since 2019 and now includes the town of Musselburgh.

With one Scottish seat yet to declare, the SNP has lost 38 seats, leaving it with just nine. Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire will go to a recount tomorrow after it proved close fight between the SNP and the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

• Count Binface won 308 votes in former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Yorkshire constituency of Richmond & Northallerton – the most he’s even polled in a Parliamentary ballot. The alter-ego of comedy writer Jon Harvey said: ‘I am over the moon and several planets’.

My 2024 General Election Results Speech. pic.twitter.com/BW9KWp3oIN
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) July 5, 2024

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Published: 5 Jul 2024