Conservative justice minister Mike Freer has become the latest MP to announce that he will not stand at the next general election.
Mr Freer, who represents Finchley and Golders Green in north London, said he was stepping back due to concerns about his safety.
He said he had received several death threats and had a suspected arson attack on his constituency office on Christmas Eve last year.
“There comes a point when the threats to your personal safety become too much,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
Mr Freer joins a growing number of Conservative MPs deciding to quit politics, including several high-profile ex-cabinet secretaries and other ministers.
Former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is among the big names stepping down
Alok Sharma, the former business secretary and Cop26 president, Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, Dominic Raab, the ex-justice secretary and Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, are among the other big-name Tories 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 Westminster 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.
Of all the 85 MPs standing down ahead of the next national poll – expected in the spring or summer of next year – 53 are Conservative.
Harriet Harman, the former Labour leader, Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary, and Ben Bradshaw, the former culture secretary are among the 15 Labour MPs standing down.
Nine SNP MPs, six independents – including former health secretary Matt Hancock – one Green and one Plaid Cymru have also decided to call it a day.
