A government minister has become the latest Tory MP to announce they are quitting parliament.
In yet another blow for Rishi Sunak, James Heappey said he would not be standing at the next election to spend more time with his family “and pursue a different career”.
He becomes the 62nd Conservative MP to do so, in a further sign that the party is heading for a catastrophic defeat at the general election.
And in a highly unusual move, Heappey also made it clear that he plans to stand down as the armed forces minister as well and spend his final months in parliament on the backbenches.
In a letter to the Conservative association chairman in his Wells and Mendip Hills constituency, he said it had been a “painful decision”.
“I will support Rishi Sunak as our party leader and prime minister in government, until such time as he wishes me to step down, and then from the backbenches,” Heappey said.
Lib Dem defence spokesperson Richard Foord said: “This is yet another blow to Rishi Sunak’s authority, as another Conservative minister abandons his failing government.
“Sunak needs to put the country out of its misery and call an election now instead of allowing this farce to drag on any longer.”
Heappey is not expected to be the last Tory MP to announce they are standing down at the election.
His announcement comes hard on the heels of his former government colleague, Brandon Lewis, also confirming that he is quitting parliament.
It also comes just a week after former prime minister Theresa May announced that she is standing down as well after 27 years as an MP.
Sunak finally confirmed last night that the election will not take place on May 2, with October 17 now thought to be the most likely date for the country to go to the polls.