Tory MPs weigh up prospect of another five years in Parliament

The Conservative party has asked all of its MPs to say by 5 December if they are planning to stand again at the next election.

While former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have indicated they'll contest their seats at the next election, the deadline has led to a number of Tory MPs going public to say they won't - including a few surprising names.

It's led to speculation that the party is facing an exodus.

A Conservative party source claimed the significance of the resignations was being "overhyped by the media".

So far, 13 Conservative MPs have said they won't stand out of 357.

That compares with 12 for Labour, which has 195 MPs. The party has not given Labour MPs a deadline to say whether they are planning to stand down.

There are, though, some clear differences between the parties.

Most of the Labour MPs who've already said they're going are older, with five of them over the age of 70.

In the last few days, several younger Conservatives have also said they are quitting including Sajid Javid, who's 53; Chloe Smith, who's 40; William Wragg, who's 34 and Dehenna Davison, who's 29.

They are all MPs who would still be expected to have a decent political future in Parliament.

Many of them have given personal reasons for leaving the Commons.

Ms Davison, who became one of the party's rising stars after winning the former Labour seat of Bishop Auckland in 2019, said she hadn't "had anything like a normal life for a 20-something".

Others have said the job is becoming harder; Sir Charles Walker, who is stepping down at the next election, said the political environment had become "toxic".

A Conservative MP elected in 2010, who is standing again, said he sympathised with those who weren't as the job had changed in the last decade and, while a privilege, was "exhausting".

The former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told BBC Radio 4's World at One that too many conclusions were being drawn from a "still relatively small number of resignations" and suggested turnover would be a good thing.

"You don't want to have a whole cadre of professional politicians who get in at 20 and remain until they're 80. That would be a very, difficult form of politics that I don't think the country would like," he said.

It's still very likely that more MPs will follow their colleagues out of the door after this week.

In 2019, 74 MPs stepped down from across the Commons.

The December date is not a hard and fast deadline which would commit Tory MPs to going through with standing again.

At least one MP who is expected not to run again at the next election hasn't told the party yet.

With polls where they are, it's quite difficult to find a Conservative MP who is optimistic about the Tories' chances of winning the next election.

That's been leading some to consider if they would want to return in opposition, even if they think they will hold their seat.

John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, also suggested MPs were having to deal with party members who were angry and demoralised.

"I think everybody now realises that the party is going to lose the next general election," he said.

"It is, in my view, going to be a pretty severe loss."

The numbers may not quite count as an exodus yet but there is certainly a real threat that one could develop.