DENNIS SKINNER was one of the highest-profile casualties in this week’s general election after he was unseated by a Tory who worked for a company providing privatised NHS services.

In a shock result, the “Beast of Bolsover” –  a permanent fixture on the Labour benches for 49 years who rarely missed a Commons session – was unseated by Mark Fletcher, the former communications director for “digital healthcare company” Synergix.

Bolsover was one of many Leave-voting seats that Labour lost.

Pro-Brexit Mr Skinner, an ex-miner and staunch socialist, was not present during the campaign or vote count – having caught a serious infection after a hip operation.

During his time as MP he had refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners’ wages and donated his wages to the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

Mr Skinner was well-known for his heckles at the state opening of Parliament and for directing his sharp tongue towards the Tory benches.

He referred to former Tory PM David Cameron as “dodgy Dave,” accused former chancellor George Osborne of being partial to racking up lines of cocaine and called most Conservative MPs “crooks.”

His refusal to retract these comments resulted in being temporarily kicked out of the Commons at least 10 times during his long tenure.