UK PM Rishi Sunak faces major challenge as 78 Conservative MPs quit election race
With the summer elections approaching in July, the Conservative Party faces a challenge as 78 of its MPs have decided not to run.
Following UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s unexpected call for an early election on July 4, at least 78 Members of Parliament from his Conservative Party have declared they will not seek re-election.
On Friday, UK cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom announced they will not run in the summer election, bringing the total number of party members withdrawing from the race to 78.
In a letter on Friday, Gove announced his resignation as an MP and stated that he would not be running in the general elections. Gove took to X and said “ 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.”
“After careful reflection, I have decided not to stand as a candidate in the forthcoming election.” said Andrea Leadsom and made her decision to not contest in elections .
In his letter, Housing Minister Gove acknowledged the demands of public office and its impact on those close to him. He stated “The toll office can take, as do those closest to me. Nothing 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.”
Former Prime Minister Theresa May is also among the senior MPs stepping down, and former Defence Minister Ben Wallace has already announced his decision to leave frontline politics. Meanwhile, sources indicate that Sunak is taking the “unusual step” of spending the first weekend of the election campaign away from public events to focus on election strategy discussions with his closest advisers.
One source dismissed the notion that Sunak aimed to reset his campaign as “ridiculous,” while another campaign operative noted that “prime ministers don’t typically spend the first weekend of the campaign at home consulting with their advisers.These reports led Opposition Labour MP Stella Creasy to post on social media “Sunak is already in need of a duvet day. Britain is already in need of a different government.”
The Labour Party is anticipated to begin their campaign energetically, buoyed by a recent YouGov opinion poll showing them with 44 percent support, compared to just 22 percent for the Conservative Party.
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