Rishi Sunak has suffered yet another knock to his confidence this morning as top Tory MP and former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi announces he is joining the mass of MPs quitting at the election.
Mr Zahawi, who served in a number of senior Government jobs including vaccine minister, education minister and Tory chairman, announced his departure this morning in a touching letter paying tribute to his Stratford-upon-Avon constituents.
He wrote: “With the exception of convincing my wife to marry me, it has been the greatest honour of my life to represent the people of Stratford-on-Avon and serve as a Minister of the Crown”.
“But after 14 years in Parliament, and multiple roles in Cabinet and Government, I have come to the decision not to stand again at the next general election.”
“Every morning as I shave my head in the mirror, I have to pinch myself. How is it that a boy from Baghdad who came to these shores, fleeing persecution and unable to speak a word of English, was able to do as much as I have?
“For all our challenges, this is the best country on Earth, and it helped me make my British dream come true. It was where I built a Great British business, YouGov, and it was where I raised my wonderful family.
“And it was the nation to which I was proud to return such a favour when I led the world-leading coronavirus vaccination rollout.”
Mr Zahawi is the 65th Conservative MP jumping at the next election, the greatest number for at least 15 years.
In March Mr Sunak suffered to ministerial resignation as Robert Halfon and James Heappey quit their respective jobs in the Department for Education and Ministry of Defence ahead of departing the Commons at the election.
Other senior Tories set to retire include Theresa May, Kwasi Kwarteng, Ben Wallace, Bill Cash, Dominic Raab and Sajid Javid.
Mr Zahawi secured a huge 19,972 majority at the election, seeing a 36.3% majority over his nearest rival in the Liberal Democrats.
However the Liberal Democrats have recently achieved victories in by-election seats with even larger majorities, including Tiverton and Honiton in 2022 when they overturned a Tory majority of 24,239; and the 2021 North Shropshire by-election when they overturned the Tory majority of 22,949.
The number of MPs resigning often sets the tone for how they expect their party to perform at the coming election.
The greatest exodus ever came in 2010, when nearly 150 MPs stood down.
That number was helped due to both Labour fears of their electoral prospects, and many MPs involved in the Expenses Scandal.
