Former prime minister Theresa May has announced she will not stand at the next general election in the most high-profile departure from parliament since Boris Johnson quit after being found guilty of misleading MPs over the Partygate scandal.
In a statement to her local newspaper the Maidenhead Advertiser, Ms May said it had been a “challenging decision” to step away from Westminster after more than 27 years as an MP.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve everyone in the Maidenhead constituency as the Member of Parliament for the last 27 years,” she said.
Tory former prime minister Theresa May (Hannah McKay/PA)
Ms May, 67, would have been defending a majority of 18,846 had she decided to run again in her Berkshire constituency, where she was first elected in 1997, bucking the national trend to win in Labour’s landslide victory.
She joins a growing number of Conservative MPs deciding to quit politics, including several high-profile ex-cabinet secretaries and other ministers.
Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president, has announced he will stand down at the next general election, saying it had been the “honour” of his life to have served as an MP. Mr Sharma, who represents Reading West, previously held the business secretary brief.
Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, Dominic Raab, the ex-justice secretary and Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary – all of whom were at one time touted as potential future Tory leaders – are among the other big-name Conservatives who have called it a day as their party struggles in the polls.
Mr Sharma and Mr Raab, who resigned from his cabinet position following a slew of bullying allegations which he denied, would have been defending majorities of fewer than 5,000 votes at the next national poll.
Most MPs walking away from politics are Conservatives, which is unsurprising given they are the biggest party, winning 365 seats at the 2019 election.
According to the Institute for Government, the 2010 election saw more than 100 MPs stand down, mainly from the Labour Party, which had been in power since 1997.
Some MPs also announced they were standing down after the expenses scandal the same year.
Sajid Javid is among the high profile figures stepping down
Of all the 96 MPs standing down ahead of the next national poll – expected in the spring or autumn – 59 are Conservatives.
Harriet Harman, the former Labour leader, Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary, and Ben Bradshaw, the former culture secretary, are among the 17 Labour MPs standing down.
Nine SNP MPs, six independents – including former health secretary Matt Hancock – one Green, one Plaid Cymru and two Sin Feinn MPs have also decided to call it a day.
Of the six independents, three – Mr Hancock, Crispin Blunt and Julian Knight – were Conservatives before they had the whip withdrawn. The three others – Conor McGinn, Bob Stewar and Nick Brown were previously Labour MPs.
Although the Conservatives have the most MPs quitting, the SNP will have the highest turnover following the next election. The eight standing down equates to nearly a fifth of the party’s MPs.
The Conservative Party is on course for a heavy defeat at the next election, according to most surveys, with the Politico website’s “poll of polls” giving Labour a 17 per cent lead.
The opposition has also narrowed the gap in Scotland where the SNP has dominated politics since coming to power north of the border in 2007.
