OUTGOING Chippenham MP Duncan Hames has spoken of how it feels to be forced to leave his position of five years.

He is enjoying a well-earned rest after sharing the fate of many of his Liberal Democrat colleagues who lost their seats on Friday morning.

Mr Hames came second with 16,278 votes to Conservative Michelle Donelan's 26,354 and said: "It was a punishing night" but he was in good spirits.

"I’ve gone from serving a couple of villages on West Wiltshire Council to fighting the corner of 100,000 people in Wiltshire in Westminster,” he said. “I’ve had an opportunity that so many people that stand for parliament don’t get and I am proud of what we got done.”

He finds comfort in the reminders of how he has made a difference. “From the new college building in Chippenham, to the rail service through Melksham, the new factory in Bradford on Avon and the digital hub at the mansion house in Corsham – projects that I have been able to play my part in to help become a reality," he said. "I am so grateful to have had that opportunity, it has been a privilege and a joy.”

He has had a restful weekend with his family, he said. "Playing with my little boy has been a lovely distraction from the cut and thrust of electoral politics."

Tuesday was spent clearing out his Westminster office, which he said was likely to go to a Scottish nationalist MP.

He lost his seat only an hour after watching on the TV screen at the election count at the Olympiad in Chippenham as his wife Jo Swinson was voted out in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, coming second to the SNP.

Mr Hames, a qualified accountant, said: “I was sad for her because I knew how hard she worked. When I got in, in 2010, she was a great help to me in learning the ropes. If their new MP is half as good as she is, they’ll be lucky.”

He said they had not yet made any future plans about what they will do or where they will live.

“We’ve just been catching our breath, catching up on a lot of sleep, and discharging our responsibilities, to parliament and to our teams,” he said.

He is saddened to have to make his constituency staff redundant. "These aren’t politicians, these are just decent people," he said. "They weren’t standing for election last week but they will soon be out of their jobs. It is a team I relied upon greatly to provide a service to local residents. I feel for them."

He is not bitter, understanding that, "People had to weigh up a lot of things with just one cross".

It was a devastating result for his party, which was left with just eight of its 57 seats.

But Mr Hames is optimistic about its future. "At the end of the day, Britain is a liberal democracy and if our political parties forget that our public will soon remind them.

"This government will do what they wanted to do but couldn’t in the last five years. I understand why people weren’t terribly concerned when it wasn’t happening and didn’t think too long about the fact that they’d been stopped, but when they start their plan they’re going to see it pretty explicitly."

He is looking forward to visiting Devon with friends from St Catherine’s Church in Holt, and on Sunday is hosting a party in Corsham Town Hall at 3.30pm, which everyone who has supported him is welcome to attend.