A Tory MP has become the 79th to quit ahead of the general election, despite having campaigned for re-election for a week.
Aaron Bell said it was “with a heavy heart” that he was stepping down, raising questions about why he had been on the campaign trail since Rishi Sunak called the snap summer poll.
Until as recently as Wednesday, the Newcastle-under-Lyme MP was telling constituents he was hoping to be re-elected.
He had been on the campaign trail every day since the election was called. “Thank you for four and a half years, here’s to five more,” he said in a video on Wednesday night.
He also joined Mr Sunak on the campaign trail in Stoke earlier this week, where he gave no indication of his intention to step down.
But in a shock statement on Friday morning, Mr Bell said he would no longer be standing “for personal and family reasons”.
“Being an MP has taken a considerable toll on me,” he said.
He added that he was proud to have served under Mr Sunak’s Government, and thanked his wife and three children for their support and "sacrifices".
Mr Bell was elected in 2019 and has acted as an assistant whip since November 2023.
He is the 79th Conservative MP to stand down ahead of the election, the highest number in modern political history, surpassing the previous post-war record of 72 Tories who stood down ahead of the 1997 contest.
Mr Bell did not publicly explain his sudden change of mind about standing in the election.
But he explained his decision to step down to the chairman of his local Conservative association, who had high praise for the “incredibly hard-working local MP”.
Constituents responding to Mr Bell’s announcement on Facebook were confused by the timing given he had repeatedly posted about his campaign. He has also posted thousands of re-elect Aaron Bell posters through people’s doors in his constituency.
Mr Bell even went on a nine-hour canvassing session on Thursday, saying in a video afterwards: “I am standing to remain as your MP on a record of delivery for Newcastle-under-Lyme.” He also set out plans to “go everywhere over the next six weeks”.
With the Conservatives trailing Labour by 23 points in the polls, Mr Sunak has faced an exodus of Tory MPs.
Big beasts including ex-chancellor Sajid Javid and former levelling up secretary Michael Gove are not seeking re-election in a blow to the prime minister and the party.
And rising stars such as Dehenna Davison, who became Bishop Auckland’s first Tory MP in 2019, has also quit.
With scores of seats left to fill before the election, Mr Sunak’s allies have been accused of “operating a chumocracy” in ”parachuting” special advisers and people close to the inner circle around the prime minister for winnable seats in the general election.
David Goss, the prime minister’s deputy political secretary, became the latest high profile figure from Downing Street to be selected for a winnable seat in Wellingborough and Rushden, recently lost to Labour in a gruelling by-election.
He followed former army officer James Clark, a special adviser to defence secretary Grant Shapps, being selected for Great Yarmouth last night.
Others to get winnable seats include former Home Office special adviser Katie Lam landing the Weald of Kent constituency last year.
