Lots of Tory MPs are pretty miserable at the moment.
After 12 years in power, they are staring down the barrel of a Labour victory in 2024 if Rishi Sunak doesn’t turn things around.
One Conservative MP told the Mirror: "Anyone with a 6,000 majority is gone - it could be higher, it could be 8,000 or 10,000.
"It will be worse in the North East… These are the Red Wall voters who trusted us and we f***ed up, essentially."
One Tory who was dumped from government told us he was taking on a second job again as he braced to lose his seat in 2024.
Another MP miserably told the Mirror they’d left the government and “now I’m nothing”. Reminded that they’re still a backbench MP - they replied: “I won’t be in two years”.
Polls can often be wrong but with Labour consistently ahead for a year, MPs are starting to feel a change in the air.
Tory peer and pollster Lord Ashcroft said the party is "exhausted, tainted and ill-disciplined”.
He added: “The Conservative brand is in as bad a state as I have seen in all my years of polling.”
Meanwhile, an ally of Nigel Farage tells the Mirror he has been showing not just ankle, but “great lengths of blue veined calf” in plotting a comeback bid.
The seven-time election flop is in the early stages of drawing up a “target seat” list for Tory seats where his Reform Party could hijack issues like refugees in boats.
He is also reported to have had secretive meetings to reach out to some MPs.
MPs were given a December 5 deadline to tell party chiefs if they intend to stand again. It wasn't a formal or hard deadline, which means there could be more to come.
Former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have both let it be known that they intend to stand again - despite both being forced out of Downing Street by their own MPs.
But it’s enough for Tory big beast Sajid Javid and a handful of high-profile, young MPs to announce they’re throwing in the towel in 2024 and going back to a ‘normal’ life.
Cabinet minister Mark Harper played down the exodus, saying “you’re going to see all those bunched together” due to the December 5 deadline and it’s not anything “to write home about”.
And it’s true that Labour has about as many MPs announcing they won’t stand again at the next election.
But while Labour’s departing MPs are (so far) aged 60 or over, the quitting Conservatives include Red Waller Dehenna Davison, aged just 29, and 34-year-old William Wragg.
Here’s the list of Tory MPs due to step down at the next election:
George Eustice, 51. Majority in Camborne and Redruth: 8,700. Former Environment Secretary, a role which he described as his "dream job". He was elected in 2010 and is stepping down as he wants "the opportunity to do a final career outside politics".
Mark Pawsey, 65. Majority in Rugby: 13,447. Senior backbencher who served as a private secretary in the Business Department. First elected in 2010 but stepping down after a "great deal of consideration".
Sajid Javid, 52. Majority in Bromsgrove: 23,106. Former Cabinet Minister, who has had a string of top Government jobs, became the first Tory big beast to announce plans to quit. He said he had "wrestled" with the decision.
Douglas Ross, 39. Majority in Moray: 513. The Scottish Tory leader has said he will stand down as an MP to focus on being an MSP at Holyrood. He made enemies among Boris Johnson's allies by calling for the ex-PM to quit over Partygate.
Dehenna Davison, 29. Majority in Bishop Auckland: 7,962. Red Wall MP who became the first Tory in a Labour stronghold stunned Westminster by stepping back, saying she hasn't "had anything like a normal life for a 20-something".
William Wragg, 34. Majority in Hazel Grove: 4,423. Was an outspoken critic of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and accused No10 of “blackmailing” MPs into keeping Boris Johnson in office.
Chloe Smith, 40. Majority in Norwich North: 4,738. Short-lived Cabinet minister, who was Parliament’s youngest MP when she joined in 2009, left government after Liz Truss’s ousting. Friends say battling breast cancer in 2020 gave her a new perspective.
Chris Skidmore, 41. Majority in Kingswood: 11,220. Rishi Sunak's net-zero tsar, whose uni band once sang a lurid song about the Queen Mother’s death, said his kids “deserve to see more of their father” and his seat is being axed in its current form.
Andrew Percy, 45. Majority in Brigg and Goole: 21,941. Quit as his constituency is abolished in the boundary review, saying “I’ve done it for longer than I ever expected or intended.”
Charles Walker, 55. Majority in Broxbourne: 19,807. Procedure geek - who once carried around a pint of milk to demonstrate his freedom - has a huge majority but has been scathing of the recent chaos in the Tory party.
Nigel Adams, 55. Majority in Selby and Ainsty: 20,137. The former Asia Minister revealed he would step down in April after more than a decade in Parliament.
Adam Afriye, 57. Majority in Windsor: 20,079. It emerged last year the MP since 2005 was facing bankruptcy proceedings from HMRC over unpaid tax. If he was made bankrupt he could be disqualified from Parliament.
Crispin Blunt, 62. Majority in Reigate: 18,310. Ex-minister said he would stand down as he marked 25 years in parliament, saying each session has been more “tumultuous” than the last.
Mike Penning, 65. Majority in Hemel Hempstead: 14,563. Ex-minister said “whilst I have by no means reached my ‘sell by date’, I may be described as having reached my ‘best before date’ and it is now time to allow a new candidate.”
Gary Streeter, 67. Majority in South West Devon: 21,430. Perhaps the least controversial resignation, the MP since 1992 wrote: “The time has come for me to step back and let a younger person take over.”
Matt Hancock, 44. Majority in West Suffolk: 23,194. The ex-Health Secretary lost the whip after abandoning his constituents to join ITV's I'm a Celebrity - but said he would not stand again for the Conservatives
Mark Pawsey, 65. Majority in Rugby: 13,447. First elected in 2010 the MP has spent the majority of time on the backbenches. He said he will "continue to work hard on their behalf throughout my remaining time as their MP".
