UK cabinet minister Michael Gove has become the latest high-profile Tory MP to announce he is standing down ahead of the 4 July general election.
The Housing Secretary joined a growing parliamentary exodus as he praised British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for espousing "the very best virtues" of the Tory party but said "it is time to leave".
Mr Gove, who has been an MP for Surrey Heath since 2005, said: "I know the toll office can take, as do those closest to me. No-one in politics is a conscript.
"We are volunteers who willingly choose our fate. And the chance to serve is wonderful. But there comes a moment when you know that it is time to leave. That a new generation should lead."
In a letter to the chairman of Surrey Heath Conservatives posted on X, Mr Gove conceded he "undoubtedly made mistakes" throughout his political career but said he had always "tried to be a voice for those who have been overlooked and undervalued".
In a show of support for Mr Sunak as campaigning for the General Election gets under way, he added: "We have a prime minister who I know exemplifies the patriotism, hard work, sense of selfless service and clarity of purpose which are the very best virtues of our party.
"He also has the policies which will guarantee a brighter, more prosperous future."
After nearly twenty years serving the wonderful people of Surrey Heath and over a decade in Cabinet across five government departments, I have today taken the decision to step down as a Member of Parliament. Read my letter here 👇 pic.twitter.com/kp1F3GBtGp
— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) May 24, 2024
The number of Conservative MPs who will not be standing at the next election has now reached 76, more than the 72 in the run up to the 1997 election, according to the House of Commons Library.
Conservative members of parliament said so many colleagues were leaving because it was unlikely the party would win the election and many had grown tired of the infighting and polarisation in parliament.
All the opinion polls predict Mr Sunak will lose the election with his Conservatives trailing the opposition Labour Party by about 20 percentage points.
Only 12 Conservative members of parliament said they would stand down in the run up to 2017 election, while 32 MPs stood down before the 2019 election, according to the House of Commons Library.
Defence minister Grant Shapps said earlier there was nothing unusual about the number of politicians leaving.
"You often get a lot standing down at election time," he told Sky News.
"You often get this illusion that there are more standing down from the governing side and, of course, the good reason for that is there are, by definition, more MPs on the governing side."
Former business minister Greg Clark and veteran Brexit supporter John Redwood were also among the Conservative lawmakers who announced they were standing down today.
Some of the Conservative Party's best-known politicians have already said they will stand down, including former prime minister Theresa May.
Sunak says door open for Boris Johnson to join campaign
As part of his UK election tour, Mr Sunak was in Northern Ireland where he repeated his wish to debate his Labour opponent Keir Starmer, after accusing him earlier of lacking the "courage" to take part in weekly televised debates during the election campaign.
"Well, I heard this morning that he said he wanted to debate the British people rather than me," Mr Sunak said in Belfast.
"I think what the British people want are answers - answers to the questions about what he would actually do if he became prime minister, and how much it's going to cost them in higher taxes.
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"I think those are the answers that he should be providing."
Mr Sunak also signalled the door is open for former prime minister Boris Johnson to campaign for the Conservative party.
He said he would welcome "any Conservative to come and join the campaign" and that he has "been in touch with Boris in the past and I said I'm very proud of the work that we did together".
Mr Sunak also said the fall in the energy price cap shows that "our plan is working" and that "the economy has turned a corner".
He added: "Inflation is now back to normal, wages have been rising faster than prices for almost a year and at the beginning of this year, the economy grew at a very healthy rate.
Mr Sunak visited an advanced maritime manufacturing facility in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, where he spoke to apprentices and rode on a small zero-emission boat.
The boat has been manufactured by Artemis Technologies, a company that has received government funding to support its work.
Mr Sunak travelled to England, Scotland and Wales yesterday, on his first day of election campaigning.
Additional reporting Reuters
