Will the last Tory MP to leave please turn out the lights? Nadhim Zahawi today becomes the 67th Conservative to announce they are standing down at the next election. The former Chancellor – who has held nine different ministerial posts – announced the decision on Twitter/X this morning. ‘My mistakes have been mine,’ he wrote in a lengthy statement, declaring that:
The time is right for a new, energetic Conservative to fight for the honour of representing Stratford-on-Avon and assuming the mantle of MP for Shakespeare. Parting is such sweet sorrow. I would like to thank all of my parliamentary staff and colleagues, civil service officials, special advisers, and everyone else who has ever given me advice, praise, or kept me in check with criticism. My mistakes have been mine, and my successes have come from working with, and leading, amazing people.
Zahawi is just the latest in a growing number of senior Conservative MPs who have announced they are standing down at the next election, including Theresa May, Dominic Raab, Kwasi Kwarteng and Sajid Javid. With more Conservative MPs standing down than at any point since Labour’s landslide in 1997, the question is: who is going to be left to go out and sell Rishi Sunak’s party on the doorstep?
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