Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams has dramatically quit this afternoon (Saturday).
Mr Adams announced that he was following the former prime minister Boris Johnson and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ lead in quitting as an MP.
In a tweet, Mr Adams said: “Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate.
“I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect.
“It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised (and) educated.
“I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.”
Mr Adams and Ms Dorries had been tipped for peerages in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours but neither featured in Friday’s published list.
There has been speculation that Downing Street wanted their names removed to avoid by-election contests, although No 10 said Mr Sunak had no involvement in producing the final list.
While the Tories enjoy a comfortable 20,000 majority in Selby and Ainsty, Mr Adams’ decision to exit immediately rather than wait until the next election means the Tories will face contests on three fronts.
Mr Johnson sensationally quit Westminster on Friday as he launched a fierce attack on the Commons Privileges Committee investigation into whether he misled MPs with his assurances over parties held in Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns.
In a 1,000-word statement, he said the seven-person panel, which is chaired by veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman but has a Conservative majority, was on a “witch hunt” and compared it with a “kangaroo court”.
Mr Johnson said he was “bewildered and appalled” at being “forced out, anti-democratically” by a probe that he claimed had set out from the beginning to “find me guilty, regardless of the facts”.
Nigel Adams is a big ally of Mr Johnson and was in Downing Street on the day he announced his resignation as prime minister.
The Selby MP served as Minister of State without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office during Mr Johnson’s premiership, from 2021 to 2022.
He was first elected as the MP for Selby and Ainsty in 2010.
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