Will the last Conservative MP please turn out the lights? In recent days both Will Wragg, 34, and Chloe Smith, 40, have announced they will be quitting the Commons at the next election. And now Dehenna Davison – the Red Wall poster girl of the 2019 election – has become the eighth (and youngest) Tory to declare they’re standing down, at the age of just 29.
Davison has cited personal reasons for quitting, saying in a statement that:
For my whole adult life, I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my time to politics, and to help make people’s lives better. But, to be frank, it has meant I haven’t had anything like a normal life for a twenty-something.
Her move will, however, be read as yet another sign that the Tories have given up on winning the next election. Davison was regarded as a rising star in the party and was recently appointed a junior minister in the Department for Levelling Up.
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