With Michael Gove joining a record-breaking number of Conservative MPs to quit the Commons, the leveller said it was time for a “new generation” to lead the party.
Gove’s announcement, in a letter tweeted on Friday evening, was expected by some given the strong Liberal Democrat challenge he faces in his Surrey Heath constituency, but it reinforced the impression that the Conservatives were on the run in the face of possible general election defeat.
This brings the total number of sitting Conservative MPs who have said they will not stand for re-election to 77, surpassing the previous record of 72 set in 1997.
Mr Gove has been an MP since 2005 and has been a key figure in the Conservative party ever since. He has also served as Secretary of State for Education, Justice, Environment and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
“I know toll booths can collect fees and so can those closest to me,” Mr Gove wrote in the letter.
“In politics, no one is drafted. We are volunteers who willingly choose our destiny. The opportunity to serve is great. But there comes a moment when you know it’s time to quit. It’s time for a new generation to take the lead,” he said.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s sudden announcement that a general election would be held on July 4th has already sparked renewed calls for resignation among Conservative party members, with the number reaching 70 by Wednesday evening.
Ahead of Friday, three more MPs announced they would resign, including former cabinet ministers John Redwood and Greg Clark, who represent Home Counties constituencies where the Liberal Democrats are likely to win against the Conservatives.
The Conservative party also symbolically returned their leadership positions to former health secretary Matt Hancock and former minister Bob Stewart, who had already announced their resignations, shortly before Parliament was prorogued on Friday.
Craig McKinlay, who is also leaving, only returned to the House of Commons this week after nearly dying from sepsis and having a limb amputated. The South Thanet MP said he wanted to return gradually and would not be able to take part in election campaigning.
Mr Sunak’s efforts to inject life into the two-day campaign hit another snag on Friday when a visit to Belfast’s Titanic Quarter drew comparisons to the sinking of the passenger liner Titanic in 1912.
“We are just metres from the site where the Titanic was built and designed,” Mr Sunak was asked by a Belfast Live reporter. clip It was widely shared on social media: “Are you going into this election as the captain of a sinking ship?”
As Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary who again did not stand, tried to contain his smile, Mr Sunak launched into his much-rehearsed answer: “Our plan is working”.
Adding to the difficulties, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt was reprimanded by the official statistics watchdog for claiming tax was being reduced.
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Robert Choate, chairman of the Office for Statistics, agreed with the Liberal Democrats’ argument that the cuts to National Insurance contributions were more than offset by other factors, such as freezing the minimum tax rate.
Notably, the Titanic’s visit is the latest in a series of unwelcome gaffes that have plagued the Conservative campaign, beginning when an increasingly drenched Mr Sunak announced the election in a rain-soaked Downing Street only for his words to be drowned out by protesters playing the 1997 Labour song “Things Can Only Get Better”.
His first campaign stop on Thursday was a warehouse in Derbyshire, where staff in hi-vis jackets quizzed him – two of whom later emerged as Conservative MPs.
Later, at an event at a brewery in South Wales, Sunak attempted small talk by asking people if they were looking forward to Euro 2024, but was somewhat disappointed when it was pointed out that Wales had failed to qualify.
Following the release of the Titanic footage, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson expressed concern.
“The announcement of D:Ream drowned out all the fuss,” she says. I have written About X. “A brewery visit with a teetotaller Prime Minister so no chance for a booze fest. Now a site visit to a notorious sinking site. Is there a double agent in CCHQ who was a headline writer in a past life? Our candidate deserves better.”
Speaking to a small group of journalists on the flight from Belfast to his next destination, the West Midlands, Mr Sunak insisted he was enjoying the campaign and was “ready to fight”.
He said: “I love doing this. I’ve been doing this since the beginning of the year. I’ve been going out two or three days a week since the beginning of the year and it’s been a lot of fun.”
