FORMER Labour MP Graham Jones found out during the election campaign he had lost the four suits in his Parliamentary office and on Friday morning that he had lost his seat.

The House of Commons authorities had mistakenly cleared his office and destroyed its contents including the clothes he changed into on arriving at Westminster for work in the morning.

Mr Jones, who lost his Hyndburn seat to Tory rival Cllr Sara Britcliffe last week, had four suits. four pairs of shoes, 14 shirts, several ties and several boxes of paper work destroyed.

He said: “I was rung during the election campaign by the House of Commons authorities to say they had mistakenly cleared my Parliamentary office and destroyed my clothes and paperwork.

“The had intended to go and clear the office of my next door neighbour Jim Cunningham who was retiring as an MP and told them to do so.

“It was a genuine mistake.

“The authorities have been very good and said they will replace the clothes new for old. I don’t know how much they were worth.

“They said they had been destroyed.

“I had thought I would be starting the new Parliamentary session as an MP with a new set of clothes but instead I am an ex-MP with a new set of clothes.

“It was a bit of a shock.

“There were some of my favourite suits, silk ties, blue, pink and red ties among them. Half of my clothes were clean and half were ready for the wash. But it would have been nice to keep them.

“Luckily all my casework was back in the constituency and I can print out anything else important that was destroyed.”

Former Labour Rossendale councillor Liz McInnes, who lost her Heywood and Middleton seat, said: “I think the authorities should maybe think about giving us a little more time to wind things up because of the time of year.”

A House of Commons Spokesman said: “We would like to express our sincere apologies to Mr Jones. Staff tasked with clearing the offices of MPs standing down before the election cleared Mr Jones’ office in error and disposed of some of his belongings. This was a genuine mistake and we are very sorry for the distress and inconvenience caused. Mr Jones will be compensated for the items lost, and we will review our processes.”