Two Tory ministers have quit the government in a double blow to Rishi Sunak, who will now be forced to carry out a mini-reshuffle of the junior ranks.
Veteran MP Robert Halfon unexpectedly announced he would step down as education minister and would be leaving the Commons at the next general election.
Armed forces minister James Heappey, who had already said that he planned to go, confirmed he had left his role at the Ministry of Defence in advance of standing down.
The pair join a growing exodus of Conservative MPs from the Commons as the party languishes in the polls, with Keir Starmer’s Labour party expected to enter government after the election this autumn.
Halfon becomes the 63rd Tory MP to say they will not stand in the next election, with Theresa May and the former cabinet minister Brandon Lewis confirming their departure in recent weeks.
Four former Conservatives who now sit as independents are also leaving, meaning that just over a fifth of the Tory MPs elected in 2019 are quitting.
Ministers who declare they will stand down at the election do not have to leave government immediately, but prime ministers generally want a team which is gearing up to fight the election rather than counting the days until they go.
Halfon, who has served in a series of senior roles since first being elected to parliament in 1999 as the MP for Harlow, Essex, quit as skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister.
In a letter to Sunak, he wrote: “After well over two decades as the Harlow parliamentary candidate and as MP, I feel that it is time for me to step down at the forthcoming general election, and in doing so, to resign as a minister in your government.”
Heappey, a former soldier who has carried out various roles in the MoD since 2019, had tweeted a letter earlier this month saying he had taken “the painful decision” to not stand again as an MP.
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In a thread posted to X on Tuesday, he wrote: “I’ve loved every minute as MinAF in this incredible department. Our Armed Forces & MoD civil servants are the very best of us. Representing them in Parliament & around the world over last 4.5 years has been an amazing privilege.”
Heappey had reportedly been on “resignation watch” from his ministerial role after telling colleagues privately that he was unhappy about the level of defence spending.
He had been tipped to succeed Ben Wallace as defence secretary after his resignation last year, but Sunak instead gave the cabinet post to Grant Shapps, who has no military experience.
The Tory MP had a majority of just under 10,000 in the 2019 election in Wells, Somerset, and the Liberal Democrats, who came second then, are likely to heavily target the new seat created after boundary changes.