Former London minister Paul Scully is set to quit as an MP at the general election.
Scully, MP for Sutton and Cheam, who bid unsuccessfully to become the Tory’s London mayoral candidate, confirmed he had been considering the move – first reported by the Evening Standard – for some time.
He told the paper: “At the moment we’ve lost focus as a party.
“The budget clearly is a moment to try and regain that focus, but if we don’t then there’s a real risk that we just repeat the mistakes of 1997 and start chasing an ideology rather than listening to what people actually want.
“I don’t want to retire as a politician but I’m not going to be part of the long-term solution.
“So it’s better for me to go. It’s been a real privilege to be the MP for my home area but it’s just the right time to go before things outside that home area start to present themselves.”
He also hit out at Susan Hall’s selection, confessing he was “disappointed” not to have been chosen to stand for his party, and claimed it was down to CCHQ concerns that his campaign could have become a reflection of the government’s failures.
Scully added: “I don’t think they had Londoners’ best interests [in mind] when they were working out the job description that they were trying to select for.
“What worries me is that some of the coverage, some of the responses, are that [the Conservatives] are being disrespectful to London.”
The former technology minister, who holds a majority of more than 8,300 votes following the 2019 election, becomes the seventh London Tory to announce they will not seek re-election.
His seat, in southeast London, will be a key focus for the Liberal Democrats at the election.