Six more Conservative MPs have announced they will not be standing at the General Election after Rishi Sunak named the date as July 4th. That means there are now a total of 121 MPs who have declared they will not be seeking re-election this time around. Of these, 83 were elected to Parliament as Conservative MPs.
Six of them made their announcement in the last 24 hours, with the latest to declare they are standing down including two former contenders for the party leadership – Michael Gove and Andrew Leadsom.
They join an exit list that includes former prime minister Theresa May and ex-cabinet ministers Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab, Nadhim Zahawi, John Redwood and Ben Wallace.
Since Mr Sunak announced the election date on Wednesday evening, a total of 15 MPs have publicly declared they would not be seeking re-election, eleven of them Conservative MPs.
As well as Michael Gove and Andrew Leadsom, the other Tory MPs to publicly declare they are standing down since the election was called are Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds), Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest), James Grundy (Leigh), Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle), Sir Michael Ellis (Northampton North), John Redwood (Wokingham), Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford), Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) and Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet).
Three Labour MPs – Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield), Holly Lynch (Halifax) and Kevan Jones (North Durham) – have joined the Westminster exodus. Representatives of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson also confirmed he would not be seeking re-election in Lagan Valley.
Just over a fifth of the 365 MPs elected as Conservatives in 2019 have now announced they are standing down. Of the 121 MPs standing down, these are the parties they represented when they were originally elected to Parliament:
83 Conservatives
24 Labour
9 SNP
2 Sinn Fien
1 DUP
1 Plaid Cymru
1 Green
Several of the MPs stepping down are currently sitting in Parliament as Independents after they resigned, or lost, the party whip. Here is the full list of MPs who have announced they will not be contesting the next General Election, grouped by the party they represented when they were elected to Parliament:
Conservative
Douglas Ross (Moray)
Sir Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
Crispin Blunt (Reigate)
Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead)
Adam Afriyie (Windsor)
Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire)
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green)
Sir Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst)
Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne)
Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster)
Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford)
Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich)
Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam)
Theresa May (Maidenhead)
Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds)
Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest)
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)
Chloe Smith (Norwich North)
William Wragg (Hazel Grove)
Dehenna Davison (Bishop Auckland)
Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon)
Chris Skidmore (Kingswood)
Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove)
Mark Pawsey (Rugby)
George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth)
Edward Timpson (Eddisbury)
Jo Gideon (Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage)
Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley)
Robin Walker (Worcester)
Sir Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)
Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire)
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley)
Nicola Richards (West Bromwich East)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
John Howell (Henley)
Sir Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby)
Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon)
Dr Matthew Offord (Hendon)
Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway)
Richard Bacon (South Norfolk)
Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton)
Philip Dunne (Ludlow)
Andy Carter (Warrington South)
Will Quince (Colchester)
Royston Smith (Southampton, Itchen)
Sir William Cash (Stone)
Lucy Allan (Telford)
Steve Brine (Winchester)
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire)
Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton)
Ben Wallace (Wyre and Preston North)
Trudy Harrison (Copeland)
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey)
Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon)
David Jones (Clwyd West)
Sir Alok Sharma (Reading West)
Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell)
Jamie Wallis (Bridgend)
John Baron (Basildon and Billericay)
Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Sir James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East)
Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth)
James Heappey (Wells)
Robert Halfon (Harlow)
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham)
Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon)
Chris Heaton-Harris ( Daventry)
Mark Menzies (Fylde)
Matt Hancock (West Suffolk)
Julian Knight (Solihull)
Bob Stewart (Beckenham)
James Grundy (Leigh)
Sir Michael Ellis (Northampton North)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Michael Gove (Surrey Heath)
Angela Leadsom (South Northamptonshire)
Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet)
Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle)
Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells)
Labour
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North)
Dame Margaret Hodge (Barking)
Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield)
Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham)
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test)
Ben Bradshaw (Exeter)
Wayne David (Caerphilly)
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central)
Dame Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central)
Margaret Beckett (Derby South)
John Cruddas (Dagenham and Rainham)
Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East)
Karen Buck (Westminster North)
Christina Rees (Neath)
Ian Mearns (Gateshead)
Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West)
George Howarth (Knowsley)
Dr Dan Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Natalie Elphicke (Dover)
Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield)
Holly Lynch (Halifax)
Conor McGinn (St Helens North)
Nick Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Kevan Jones (North Durham)
SNP
Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Peter Grant (Glenrothes)
Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East)
Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife)
Stewart Hosie (Dundee East)
Mhairi Black (Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
John McNally (Falkirk)
Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire)
Patrick Grady (Glasgow North)
DUP
Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley)
Sinn Fein
Francie Molloy (Mid Ulster)
Mickey Brady (Newry and Armagh)
Green
Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion)
Plaid Cymru
Hywel Williams (Arfon)