Jo Swinson has been toppled in her own seat, throwing the Liberal Democrat leader’s future in charge of the party into serious doubt after a dismal showing at the polls.

Swinson, who started the campaign claiming she could be the next prime minister, lost in her East Dunbartonshire constituency to the SNP in a result capping a disastrous night for her party.

Though Lib Dem numbers in the Commons swelled before the election to 21, aided by MPs crossing the floor, the Ipsos Mori exit poll predicted the party winning 13 seats – only one more than in 2017.

Small consolation came in Richmond Park, west London, where Sarah Olney recaptured the remain-backing seat by ousting the Tory minister Zac Goldsmith. In Finchley and Golders Green, in north London, the former Labour MP Luciana Berger looked likely to win the seat for the Lib Dems.

Another high-profile defector to the Lib Dems, Chuka Umunna, lost in his bid to win in the capital, and the former Tory minister Sam Gyimah looked set to fail for the party too.

The result represents an awful night for the party, which had pinned its electoral hopes on attracting remain supporters with a pledge to revoke Brexit without a second referendum.

It looked set to be the third worst performance in the party’s 31-year modern history, following its disastrous fall from 57 to eight seats in 2015 after the coalition government with the Conservatives and 2017’s modest improvement to 12 elected MPs.

Swinson’s loss follows that of former leader Nick Clegg, who was booted out by voters in 2017. She was defending a 5,339 majority, but lost by just 149 votes to the SNP.

The result will fuel criticisms of Swinson’s presidential-style campaign, in which her party’s poll ratings slipped throughout the race after she initially framed herself as the next prime minister despite a paucity of MPs.