United Kingdom General Election: July 4, 2024

[Chickpeas]

Bingo. He’s also never held a full cabinet role or run his own department.

Every Tory PM in the past 150 years has either spent a term as opposition leader, or time in one of the Great Offices of State (Chancellor, Foreign or Home Office) before getting the job.

Oddly enough this precedent also excludes Michael Gove, who has been in the cabinet for almost the entire time since 2010. Really would have expected he'd have landed a Great Office of State by now. 

[Chickpeas]

And John Redwood (the Tory equivalent to Corbyn in some ways) has announced he's standing down in his Wokingham seat. There won't be many MPs who were first elected before the 1990s left in the next Parliament.

I think this is the current list. Status as standing or otherwise subject to change.

Margaret Beckett (Lab, Derby South) (Oct 1974/1983) retiring
Peter Bottomley (Con, Worthing West) (1975 by) standing
Barry Sheerman (Lab, Huddersfield) (1979) retiring
Harriet Harman (Lab, Camberwell & Peckham) (1982) retiring
John Spellar (Lab, Warley) (1982 by/1992) standing in Smethwick
Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough) (1983) standing
Nick Brown (Ind elected as Lab, Newcastle East) (1983) retiring
Jeremy Corbyn (Ind elected as Lab, Islington North) (1983) standing
Roger Gale (Con, North Thanet) (1983) standing in Herne Bay & Sandwich
Christopher Chope (Con, Christchurch) (1983/1997) standing
Greg Knight (Con, East Yorkshire) (1983/2001) retiring
Bill Cash (Con, Stone) (1984 by) retiring
George Howarth (Lab, Knowsley) (1986 by) retiring
John Redwood (Con, Wokingham) (1987) retiring
David Davis (Con, Haltemprice & Howden) (1987/2008 by) standing in Goole & Pocklington
Diane Abbott (Ind elected as Lab, Hackney North & Stoke Newington) (1987) situation unclear
Andrew Mitchell (Con, Sutton Coldfield) (1987/2001) standing
George Galloway (Workers Party, Rochdale) (1987/2012 by/2024 by) standing

Of the Tories who are standing again, Bottomley's seat has become a Labour target but the others are fairly safe barring an extreme landslide (and Chope probably even if there is an extreme landslide).

So if Labour take Peter Bottomley's seat then Edward Leigh is next in line to be Father of the House. Surprised Bottomley isn't standing down with his seat looking so shaky especially considering he's nearly 80.

[Chickpeas]

No Conservative MPs have announced they're standing down since the Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom double whammy on Friday evening. Surely that's not the last of them?