Ex-Cabinet minister Sajid Javid says he WON’T stand at next election

Sajid Javid has become the latest senior Tory declaring he will not stand at the next general election. 

The former Chancellor and health secretary announced he had made the decision ‘after much reflection’. 

He is the latest in a string of MPs to say they will be leaving Parliament, with Labour miles ahead in the polls. Conservative chiefs have given a deadline of Monday for sitting politicians to say if they want to stay on.  

Veteran Tory MP Charles Walker, who has also said he will step down at the next election, warned that the party will ‘pay the price’ and faces 10 years in opposition.

Rishi Sunak suffered a bloody nose today as Labour boosted its majority in the Chester by-election – while the Tories recorded their worst performance in the seat for 190 years.

In the PM’s first major electoral test, local councillor Samantha Dixon emerged victorious by a 10,974 vote margin – well up on the 6,100 secured in 2019.

Although Labour was expected to win, the swing of nearly 14 per cent from the Conservatives will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street.

Keir Starmer’s MPs quickly started trolling Mr Sunak as a ‘serial loser’, although Tories said there was some comfort in their share of the vote remaining above 20 per cent.

Sir Charles said the vote in Chester was a ‘sort of live fire exercise’ for the Tories’ performance in the polls.

‘We certainly weren’t going to win it,’ he told Times Radio.

‘And I think the scale of the loss reflects where we stand in the opinion polls at the moment. So, in a sense, this by-election was a sort of live fire exercise for where the opinion polls currently have us.’

Sir Charles said the Tory party is in a ‘better place’ than it was six weeks ago when Liz Truss was leading the country.

But he said he thinks it is ‘almost impossible’ for the Conservatives to come back to win the next general election.

‘Now, I hope what Rishi Sunak does is make sure Labour doesn’t wipe the floor with us, that we perhaps win 220 seats, and we form a viable opposition,’ he said.

Sir Charles said: ‘I suspect you’ll see quite a lot of people standing down as we get nearer the general election. 

‘I think many of my colleagues won’t have made their minds up yet. But I think it’s inevitable. 

‘I think politics is quite a gruelling vocation to be in. But many of my colleagues will be thinking look, do I want to do much more of this? 

‘Do I want to go down to electoral defeat and have a sort of gruelling six week campaign? Or if they’re in really safe seats do I want to be in opposition for 10 years?’