Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has announced she will quit as an MP at the next election.
Morgan, widely seen as one of the more moderate senior ministers in Boris Johnson’s government, will follow her ally Amber Rudd and a raft of senior current and former Tories out of parliament when it dissolves next week.
The culture secretary said abuse was a factor behind her decision to quit both the cabinet and the Commons, stressing it was time to “stand aside and be at home far more”.
HuffPost UK understands that neither the prime minister nor Rudd’s decision to go influenced her decision.
In a letter to her local party ahead of the December 12 snap election, the culture secretary said: “The clear impact on my family and the other sacrifices involved in, and the abuse for, doing the job of a modern MP can only be justified if, ultimately, parliament does what it is supposed to do - represent those we serve in all areas of policy, respect votes cast by the electorate and make decisions in the overall national interest.”
Morgan was a former Remainer who was central to efforts to bring the Tory party together behind a compromise Brexit solution after it split over Theresa May’s deal.
She said she was looking forward “to supporting the prime minister” in the upcoming campaign.
Morgan defeated Labour to get elected as MP for Loughborough in 2010 but saw her 9,183 majority cut to 4,269 between the 2015 and 2017 elections.
Henry Newman, a senior aide to senior cabinet minister Michael Gove, said he was “so so sorry to hear this”, describing Morgan as a “hero”.
Morgan joins an exodus of current and former Tory MPs out of parliament, including the likes of Rudd, David Lidington, Sir Patrick McLoughlin, Justine Greening and Sir Alan Duncan.
Tory grandee Keith Simpson, who is also standing down, warned the prime minister he might end up losing the election because of the exodus.
“So many good colleagues from One Nation standing down with Liders, Sir Patrick, Alan Duncan and now Nicky Morgan.
“Boris may get back some Brexiteer Tory and Labour voters but he is losing the Liberal Conservatives. How not to get a majority.”
Earlier, Rudd claimed the prime minister asked her to stand in the upcoming election as a Tory before she announced she was quitting parliament.
The former home secretary also suggested the chief whip, Mark Spencer, was being directed by other actors in Downing Street in deciding not to welcome her back into the Tory parliamentary party following her decision.
The Hastings and Rye MP, who had a majority of just 346 at the last election, resigned from the cabinet and surrendered the Tory whip over Brexit in September.
She was acting in solidarity with 21 MPs who were kicked out of the party last month after they backed a plan to take control of the Commons timetable to pass legislation to block a no-deal Brexit.
Senior figures including Sir Nicholas Soames and Alistair Burt were among 10 of those rebels who have been readmitted to the parliamentary party following a meeting with the prime minister.
Rudd was told on Wednesday by Tory chief whip Mark Spencer that she would not be getting the whip back.
“Receipt of the whip is an honour, not a right and it cannot be discarded or returned at will,” he said.
Rudd however claimed Spencer had been “briefed by the wrong Number 10 sources”, claiming “just last week” the PM asked her to stand in the December election.
Responding to the claim, a Number 10 source said they were not aware of any meeting between Rudd and Johnson but did not deny that one might have taken place.