European Politics > Ministers leaving Sunak's Government like rats abandoning a sinking ship

 

Exit of two more Tory ministers forces Sunak

into mini-reshuffle

by Pippa Crerar, Guardian, March 26, 2024:

Two Tory ministers have quit the government in a double blow to Rishi Sunak, who has been forced to carry out a mini-reshuffle of the junior ranks.

The veteran MP Robert Halfon unexpectedly announced he would step down as education minister and would be leaving the Commons at the next general election.

The armed forces minister, James Heappey, who had already said that he planned to go, confirmed he had left his role at the Ministry of Defence in advance of standing down.

The pair join a growing exodus of Conservative MPs from the Commons as the party languishes in the polls, with Keir Starmer’s Labour party expected to enter government after the election this autumn.

Halfon becomes the 63rd Tory MP to say they will not stand in the next election, with Theresa May and the former cabinet minister Brandon Lewis confirming their departures in recent weeks. Four former Conservatives who now sit as independents are also leaving, meaning that just over a fifth of the Tory MPs elected in 2019 are quitting.

Ministers who declare they will stand down at the election do not have to leave government immediately, but prime ministers generally want a team that is gearing up to fight the election rather than counting the days until they go…..