Bitter blow for Rishi Sunak as Michael Gove says he will quit as an MP

Michael Gove has announced he is quitting as an MP and a Cabinet minister at the election in a major blow for Rishi Sunak amid an exodus of Conservatives from the Commons.

The Housing Secretary’s decision to stand down takes the number of Tory MPs quitting to 77, a post-war record and more than the 72 in the run-up to the 1997 election when Tony Blair’s Labour took power after a landslide victory.

The exodus has already proven damaging for Mr Sunak but Mr Gove’s loss will prove to be an especially bitter blow as he is regarded as one of the party’s biggest reformers and policy brains.

Mr Gove said he was standing down as MP for Surrey Heath after one of the key pieces of legislation he was piloting through Parliament – the Renters Reform Bill – was ditched after Mr Sunak’s decision to call a snap election following months of internal Tory rows over its ban on no fault evictions – a 2019 party manifesto pledge.

The former Vote Leave campaign leader, alongside Boris Johnson, did at least see his Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill make the statute book but proposals to effectively end ground rents for homeowners were watered down.

In his resignation letter, posted on X, Mr Gove said it was time for a “new generation” of MPs while highlighting the “toll office can take” after 19 years in Parliament.

“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 his 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.”

Former Cabinet minister Greg Clark and veteran Brexit supporter Sir John Redwood were among the Tory MPs who also announced they were standing down on Friday.

Other big name Tories including ex-prime minister Theresa Mayand former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi have also announced they will stand down.

Craig Mackinlay, who returned to the Commons this week as the self-styled “bionic MP” after losing his hands and feet to a battle with sepsis and replacing them with prosthetics, also announced on Friday he would quit as it was too early in his recovery to “withstand the rigours of an all-out election campaign, a campaign that I’d always wish to lead from the front”.

The exodus comes after several Tory MPs privately expressed deep concerns about Mr Sunak’s decision to call a snap election with the party trailing Labour by around 20 points in opinion polls.

The Liberal Democrats, who are targeting so-called Blue Wall seats across the Conservative heartlands of southern England, said Mr Gove was “running scared” of their party.

Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney MP said: “Conservative politicians are fleeing the Blue Wall in their droves. Michael Gove is running scared of the Liberal Democrats.

“The drumbeat of Conservative MPs stepping down has been getting louder as the days go by – now it’s deafening.

“Every Conservative MP that steps down in a Blue Wall battleground is a damning statement against Rishi Sunak and proof the Liberal Democrats are on the up.”