Danny Alexander has refused to be drawn on his future after becoming one of the highest profile casualties of the general election.
Speaking after losing his Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey seat, Mr Alexander insisted that he had not thought beyond catching up on his sleep after the campaign.
The former Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury also refused to comment on speculation he may be poised for a seat in the House of Lords.
He said: “I’m going to go and have a good night’s sleep, I don’t have any plans beyond that.
“I’ve lost an election which I’m deeply disappointed by, but there are many, many worse things that could happen to people and I’m sure that I’ll find something useful to occupy my time in the weeks to come.”
Mr Alexander lost the seat he had held since the 2005 election to Highland Council leader Drew Hendry.
He said he was “very proud” of his record and felt his defeat was partly down to the collapse in support for Labour.
He added: “In this constituency I got more or less a very similar number of votes to that which I received in 2010, but the SNP did very well and they’ve had a wave of success across Scotland, the Labour Party has almost disappeared and those votes have gone to the SNP.
“I suspect they will try and use this to push for another referendum on independence, which I think would be the wrong thing for our country.
“I think that those who have been elected to parliament and political parties have got a lot of thinking to do about the future.”
He also criticised the “hugely divisive” campaign run by Prime Minister David Cameron and the Conservatives.
He said: “He has tried to stoke-up the fear of the SNP in England and has helped the SNP to stoke-up the fear here in Scotland and it’s been a campaign where the two parties have fed off one another and I think that has been very divisive within the UK.
“I hope that Mr Cameron will reflect much more carefully on what’s needed to heal the United Kingdom rather than simply pandering to his own party advantage.”