The Conservative candidate for Croydon North at the last election said he is doubtful he will run for office again soon.
Samuel Kasumu lost to Labour and Co-operative’s Steve Reed by 32,365 votes, with Mr Reed’s majority increasing by more than 11,000.
In keeping with the nationwide trend, Croydon North’s turnout rose by 6.2% – the largest increase in the three Croydon constituencies.
Mr Kasumu said he does not know if he will run again in the event of another general election this year.
He said: “If it’s this year, it’s highly unlikely.
“I’ve got a young boy, he’s 22 months, and I need to see him more.
“I’m not sure this form of public life is for me,” he added.
Mr Kasumu seemed to accept that winning Croydon North was never a realistic prospect and said the aims of his campaign lay elsewhere.
He said: “I had three aims – to see if running in an election was something I wanted to do in the future in a seat that is winnable, secondly to help Gavin – I’ve known him for seven or eight years and I think he’s been a great local member of parliament.
“Thirdly was to encourage people from similar backgrounds to myself to consider public life.”
Despite a comprehensive beating, Mr Kasumu remained ebullient about the quality of his team’s local campaign.
“We ran a very, very good local campaign,” he said.
“I know Labour busted out a lot of Momentum folks, but we ran one of the most impressive local campaigns in the Conservative Party.
“I don’t think this is a reflection of Croydon Conservatives, it’s a reflection of the national picture.”
He hoped that the campaign would increase the profile of the Conservatives in Croydon ahead of next year’s local elections.
“In local elections, the Conservatives don’t usually put up many candidates so Labour usually have a bit of a free run.
“I don’t know if the results from today will encourage people, but hopefully I’ve managed to help somehow.”
