Rishi Sunak is facing yet another by-election nightmare after former Tory MP Scott Benton announced he was resigning from the Commons.
The MP for Blackpool South was facing being booted out by his constituents in a recall petition after he was caught in a lobbying sting.
In a statement to his constituents on Monday, he said: “Its been the honour of a lifetime to represent our wonderful community in Parliament over the last four years.
“Its with a heavy heart that I have written to the chancellor this morning to tender my resignation as your MP.”
He said he wanted to give a new Tory candidate the “the time and space” to prepare for the general election, which is due later this year.
Benton, who was elected as an MP for the red wall seat in 2019, has been sitting as an independent.
Labour will be confident of winning the by-election, as Benton has a majority of just 3,690 and was the seat’s first Conservative MP since 1997.
Benton had the Tory whip suspended after he was filmed last year offering to help gambling industry lobbyists in exchange for money.
As punishment he was handed a 35-day ban from the Commons. The length of the suspension triggered a recall petition.
If at least 10% of registered voters had supported it, Benton would have been kicked out.
An investigation into Benton by parliament’s standards commissioner said he had “committed a very serious breach” by “repeatedly indicating his willingness to disregard the House’s rules”.
“His comments gave a false impression of the morality of MPs in a way which, if the public were to accept them as accurate, would be corrosive to respect for Parliament and undermine the foundations of our democracy,” it said.