The next general election will see more Conservative MPs resign than at any time since Labour’s 1997 landslide.
Fifty-seven Tories have now said they plan to leave Parliament rather than seek re-election, with a poll expected in 2024.
There are fears that the Conservatives are on track for a major defeat. According to opinion polls by The Telegraph, Labor is currently about 20 percentage points ahead of the ruling party among voters.
These are all the Tory MPs who have confirmed they will step aside:
Mike Penning
Sajid Javid
Mr Javid, MP for Bromsgrove since 2010, has served in six different Cabinet posts during the Tories’ time in power: Culture Secretary, Business Secretary, Housing Secretary, Home Secretary, Chancellor and Health Secretary. He has taken a back seat during the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Lord Charles Walker
Sir Charles, who chaired the procedural committee between 2012 and 2019, emerged as one of the biggest lockdown skeptics in parliament, carrying a milk bottle around Westminster to protest against the restrictions. He was an arch critic of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and branded her government “an absolute disgrace” led by “a group of talentless people”.
Dehenna Davison
Ms Davison, 29, was elected at the 2019 general election as the first ever Tory MP for the ‘Red Wall’ seat of Bishop Aukland in its 134-year history. As a minister at the Department for Leveling Up, she said in announcing her resignation that she had “had nothing like a normal life for a 20-something”.
Sir Gary Streeter
Sir Gary is stepping down from parliament after more than 30 years, having served as Tory MP for South West Devon since 1992.
William Wragg
Another fierce critic of Boris Johnson, Mr Wragg, has been an MP since 2015 and chair of the influential Public Administration and Accounts Committee.
Adam Afriyie
Chloe Smith
Ms Smith, MP for Norwich North since 2009, was one of Liz Truss’s most prominent backers. She acted first as her work and pensions secretary and then as Rishi Sunak’s temporary science secretary during Michelle Donelan’s maternity leave.
Andrew Percy
Douglas Ross
Mr Ross, who is both an MP and Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), currently leads the Scottish Tories. He has confirmed that he will not stand for re-election as MP next time.
Mark Pawsey
George Eustice
Mr Eustice has been an MP since 2010 and served as Mr Johnson’s Environment Secretary between 2020 and 2022.
Edward Timson
Jo Gideon
Paul Beresford
Stephen McPartland
Robin Walker
Mr Walker, a former Education Secretary, is currently chairman of the House of Commons education committee.
Sir Graham Brady
Sir Graham was the chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbenchers, which confirmed earlier this year that he will no longer represent Altrincham and Sale after winning the seat in 1997.
Pauline Latham
Nicola Richards
Gordon Henderson
Craig Whittaker
Hendrik Smit
John Howel
Jonathan Djanogly
Matthew Offord
Alister Jack
The current Scottish Secretary, Mr Jack, has confirmed he will step down at the next election but has ruled out accepting a peerage on Boris Johnson’s honors list despite being nominated by the Prime Minister.
Sir Robert Goodwill
Sir Robert, a former Secretary of State for Education, Immigration and Transport, is currently chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
Richard Bacon
Dominic Raab
Mr Raab, the former deputy prime minister and justice minister, cited “increasing concerns” about the pressure on his young family as he announced his intention to resign shortly after leaving Cabinet amid bullying of civil servants. He also held the titles of Brexit Secretary and Foreign Secretary.
Philip Dunne
Andy Carter
Will Quince
Royston Smith
Mr. Bill Cash
Sir Bill, MP for Stone in Staffordshire and an arch Eurosceptic, has said it will be a “huge blow” to leave Parliament. At 83 years old, he is the oldest member of the House of Commons.
Lucy Allan
Ms Allan, MP for Telford in Shropshire since 2015, announced her intention to move away from broad choice in government, writing: “The current Conservative Party is simply not interested in seats like Telford anymore.”
Steve Brine
Mr Brine, who broke lobbying rules in a WhatsApp exchange revealed by The Telegraph’s Lockdown Files investigation, said it was time for him to consider a “new chapter” in his life.
Greg Knight
Chris Clarkson
Ben Wallace
Mr Wallace, who has been Defense Secretary since July 2019, has announced he will not contest the next election but has ruled out leaving Parliament “prematurely”. He will also resign from his role in the cabinet during the next reshuffle.
Tracey Crouch
Trudy Harrison
Stuart Andreas
Stefan Hammond
David Jones
Alok Sharma
The former Tory minister and president of Cop26, who chaired the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow two years ago, said he will continue to advocate for “climate action” in Parliament for the rest of his time as an MP.
Chris Grayling
The former transport secretary has been MP for Epsom and Ewell since 2001 and served in the Cameron and May governments. He said he had been successfully treated for prostate cancer earlier this year, but the diagnosis had led him to decide it was “time for a change”.
Johannes Baron
Doctor Lisa Cameron
Sir James Duddridge
Jamie Wallis
Mike Vrijer
Nick Gibb
Oliver Heald
Lord Bob Neil
Kwasi Kwarteng
Mr Kwarteng, the former chancellor, announced on February 6, 2024 that he will step down as MP at the next general election.
Mr Kwarteng, who represents the constituency of Spelthorne, Surrey, said he had told his constituency association he would not stand in the next contest.
He wrote on
Nickie Aiken
Nickie Aiken, the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, announced she would stand down at the next general election on February 7.
Ms. Aiken is married to Alex Aiken, the government’s executive director of communications. On February 7, it was also announced that Mr. Aiken will leave his post to take a job at the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tracey Crouch
Ms Crouch is a former government minister who chaired an English football magazine. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and completed treatment the following year.
In a letter confirming her departure, she wrote: “The reasons for not resigning are entirely personal and positive. While everyone’s cancer journey is different, receiving a diagnosis and coming out the other side of treatment has been a life-affirming experience for me.
“It was an opportunity to pause and reflect on my own personal priorities and on that basis I truly believe it is time to seek a new professional challenge.”