Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he will not stand in the next general election but will continue to campaign for the Conservative Party.
In a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunakwho posted to X on Saturday night, Heaton-Harris said that after 24 years in politics, it was an “honor and privilege to serve.”
He thanked the people of Daventry, Mr Sunak and former Tory leaders including Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss “for putting their trust in me”.
Heaton-Harris, who has served as Northern Ireland Secretary since September 2022, said: “I started as an activist and will be campaigning for the @Conservatives in the next election because we are the only party that has and can deliver for the whole of the UK.”
He joins an exodus of Conservative politicians who have announced they will leave Westminster at the next general election.
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More than 100 deputies from the entire House of Commons have said they will not stand.
Those who have announced their intention to leave parliament range from the longest-serving MP, Harriet Harman of the Labor Party, to one of those elected only in the last election in 2019, Conservative MP Dehenna Davison.
Of more than 60 conservative deputies Leaving aside, prominent names include former ministers Ben Wallace, Sajid Javid, Dominic Raab and Kwasi Kwarteng.
In March, May, 67, said she had also made the “difficult decision” to resign from the House of Commons after 27 years representing her constituency of Maidenhead.
The last possible day for a general election is Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
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