There goes another one. Guido hears former minister Bob Neill, MP for Bromley & Chislehurst, told the executive committee of the newly-formed Bromley and Biggin Hill constituency that he would not be standing last night. He has also penned a letter to the chairman. Neill has served as Bromley’s MP since 2006…

Neill, a former housing minister, has been chairman of the Justice Select Committee since 2015 and was involved in efforts against the Withdrawal Agreement in 2020. Guido makes that 57 Tory MPs heading for the door…

Read Neill’s full letter below:

“Following our conversation earlier today, I am writing to confirm that, after a great deal of thought, I have decided not to stand as a candidate at the next General Election. As you know, Ann-Louise has been fighting bravely to recover from the stroke that she suffered a while ago. It is a tough road for her, but we are very positive about it. Even so, I have concluded that it is now right for me to spend more time supporting her. She has always been there to support me, and I want to do the same for her and our family.

This May, it will be exactly fifty years since I was first elected as a Conservative Councillor. For the last twenty-four years it has been my enormous privilege to serve the people of Bromley, first as their London Assembly Member and, since 2006, as Member of Parliament for Bromley & Chislehurst. I have had the honour of serving as a Minister, as a Vice Chairman of our Party and for the last nine years, as Chair of the Justice Select Committee. Throughout that time, I have been fortunate to enjoy the consistent and warm support of our local Conservative Association’s officers and members, for which I am profoundly grateful.

Please rest assured that I will continue to work as actively as ever for my constituents until the day this Parliament is dissolved, whenever that may be, and in doing so I will continue to have support of my brilliant Parliamentary office team, who I can never thank enough for their dedication and loyalty. I am confident that we will win the new Bromley & Biggin Hill constituency when the election comes, and I am sure that you and your colleagues will want to have a new candidate in place as soon as possible. I look forward to working with them and in giving my full support to the Prime Minister, who is giving the country the honest, diligent, and pragmatic leadership that our country deserves and which is in the best traditions of our Party.”