Dominic Raab is not planning to contest Esher and Walton seat, after quitting cabinet over bullying claims. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Dominic Raab is not planning to contest Esher and Walton seat, after quitting cabinet over bullying claims. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Live feedRaab delights Lib Dems by joining more than 10% of Tory MPs saying they will quit at next electionGood morning. “Were you still up for Raab?” used to be a niche Westminster joke about the next general election, highlighting the fact that Dominic Raab, the former deputy PM, was widely expected to be one of the most high-profile Tory losses on election night last year, just as Michael Portillo was in 1997. It was never a particularly good comparison, because Portillo’s defeat was unexpected, whereas Raab’s is already priced in, but now the only thing it can refer to is the moment the Daily Telegraph dropped last night, with the story that Raab is standing down. Our version is here.
Raab, who is only 49, has written a letter to the chair of the Conservative association in Esher and Walton, his constituency, saying that one of the factors behind his decision is “the pressure the job has placed on my young family”. He has two sons, aged 10 and eight. This may well be true. But at Westminster it will be taken for granted that he is announcing his decision to stand down now because he assumes he will lose his seat. His majority over the Liberal Democrats at the last election was just 2,743, and Esther and Walton is one of their top targets.
If this were just a one-off, it would not be so interesting. But, according to the Spectator’s tally, Raab is the 37th Conservative MP to announce they are standing down at the next general election. That is more than 10% of the parliamentary party – a much higher proportion than is normal at this stage of a general election. What’s more, 12 of the others are, like Raab, under 50. In the 20th century it was unusual for an MP to leave the Commons voluntarily before reaching retirement age. Career patterns are changing, but that on its own does not explain what is happening (the Labour MPs who have announced that they are standing down are all in their 60s, 70s or 80s), and it is hard not to conclude that Raab has joined a cohort of Tories who have given up hope their party will be in government after the next election.
Responding to the Raab announcement, a Lib Dem spokesperson said:
The local elections in May showed people are fed up with Conservative MPs taking them for granted. It’s not just Dominic Raab who should go, it’s this whole sleaze-ridden Conservative government.
We will be fighting hard at the next election to finally give the people of Esher and Walton the strong local champion they deserve.
And this is from Monica Harding, the Lib Dem candidate in Esher and Walton.
3K.
Bringing proper accountability to #EsherandWalton
2 wks ago we became largest party at locals & lead the Council.
We’re working hard everyday, listening & delivering for the community.
We’ll keep on doing that pic.twitter.com/ydG1PfpHI1
— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 23, 2023″,”url”:”https://twitter.com/monicabeharding/status/1660913536200069122″,”id”:”1660913536200069122″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”32408008-9314-4d15-9c0b-fa51e6d9acdb”}}”>In 2019 I brought Dominic Raab’s 23k majority down to >3K.
Bringing proper accountability to #EsherandWalton
2 wks ago we became largest party at locals & lead the Council.
We’re working hard everyday, listening & delivering for the community.
We’ll keep on doing that pic.twitter.com/ydG1PfpHI1
— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 23, 2023Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Rishi Sunak chairs cabinet.
10am: Claire Coutinho, the children’s minister, gives evidence to the Commons education committee about special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision.
11am: Sunak speaks at the London defence conference. At 3.15pm John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, will be speaking.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs begin a debate on a Labour motion criticising the government for not abolishing or reforming the leasehold system; later there will be a debate on a Labour “humble address” motion calling for the publication of data about the safety of school buildings in England.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
3K.
Bringing proper accountability to #EsherandWalton
2 wks ago we became largest party at locals & lead the Council.
We’re working hard everyday, listening & delivering for the community.
We’ll keep on doing that pic.twitter.com/ydG1PfpHI1
— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 23, 2023″,”url”:”https://twitter.com/monicabeharding/status/1660913536200069122″,”id”:”1660913536200069122″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”e0660646-d7e5-4dbc-84fb-e255fb1eaecb”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”Here is the agenda for the day.
“,”elementId”:”8a782e32-cf6f-4828-a5a7-fac5a3716c99″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”Morning: Rishi Sunak chairs cabinet.
“,”elementId”:”d44ba371-5c41-44c4-96dc-b20c8e2153e3″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”10am: Claire Coutinho, the children’s minister, gives evidence to the Commons education committee about special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision.
“,”elementId”:”f9a1a9a2-881a-48b3-a952-56fdc1ec4f76″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”11am: Sunak speaks at the London defence conference. At 3.15pm John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, will be speaking.
“,”elementId”:”1de3c21a-e836-443a-9663-55762bd98a72″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
“,”elementId”:”66f809f6-af77-43ee-a4d8-ffe9434de77d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”After 12.30pm: MPs begin a debate on a Labour motion criticising the government for not abolishing or reforming the leasehold system; later there will be a debate on a Labour “humble address” motion calling for the publication of data about the safety of school buildings in England.
“,”elementId”:”a2ca5344-4797-4079-90dc-dc0f49bd920b”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
“,”elementId”:”71c977f6-f5ff-4825-8b79-c3a2c06232bd”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1684830003000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”09.20 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1684833891000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”10.24 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1684830003000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.20 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.20″,”title”:”Raab delights Lib Dems by joining more than 10% of Tory MPs saying they will quit at next election”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 23 May 2023 10.24 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Tue 23 May 2023 09.20 BST”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”format”:{“display”:0,”theme”:0,”design”:10},”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”}”>Key events
The Electoral Commission has said it is “disappointing” that rules on reporting donations were not fully complied with by parties including Labour and the Tories, PA Media reports. PA says:
Labour was issued with fines totalling £600, while the Conservatives escaped with no sanction after both parties failed to follow the rules.
The commission rebuked Labour for the late reporting of donations, while the Conservatives were also found to have failed to report two donations by the due date.
Louise Edwards, the watchdog’s director of regulation and digital transformation, said: “The requirements for political parties are clear, so it’s disappointing when they are not fully complied with.”
She added: “In the case of the Labour party, our investigations found seven offences related to the late reporting of donations from one of its quarterly financial reports, three of which have resulted in a sanction.”
Braverman criticised over ‘insulting’ government response to recommendations from child sexual abuse inquiryYesterday Suella Braverman, the home secretary, made a statement to MPs about the government’s response to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA). She implied she was accepting almost all its recommendations, saying: “We are accepting the need to act on 19 out of the inquiry’s 20 final recommendations.”
But her response has been strongly criticised by people involved in the inquiry. Yesterday Prof Alexis Jay, who chaired the inquiry, said she was “deeply disappointed” that the inquiry’s recommendations were not being accepted in full.
And this morning Lucy Duckworth, a member of the IICSA’s survivors and victims consultative panel, told the Today programme that in practice the recommendations were not being fully accepted. She said:
Actually, when you look at it, they are absorbing many of the recommendations in existing structures. We know that if they were working, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Duckworth also criticised the government’s decision to reject the inquiry’s call for the establishment of a cabinet-level minister for children, saying:
To really truly tackle this, we need a complete culture change and a complete reform of the system.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP who was one of the people originally calling for the inquiry to be set up, also told the programme that she was angry about Braverman’s response to the inquiry recommendations, which she described as “insulting”. She said:
Rather than accepting those, she’s kicked it into the long grass with consultations, with 13 weeks of calls for evidence which conveniently takes her into summer recess when parliament isn’t sitting.
I find it incredibly insulting to, yes, the taxpayers’ £200m [the cost of the inquiry], but more so to the 7,000 victims.
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, arriving for cabinet this morning. No 10 has still not said whether or not Rishi Sunak will order an inquiry into claims she broke the ministerial code. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesRaab standing down because ‘he knew he was going to lose’, says Lib Dem leader Ed DaveyEd Davey, the Lib Dem leader, told LBC this morning that Dominic Raab is standing down at the next election because he knows he would otherwise lose his seat. Davey said:
He knew he was going to lose. We have been working really well there.
We’ll be working every day to earn the trust of people in Esher and Walton.
It’s not just about Dominic Raab, it really is about the whole Conservative party.
Asked if the Lib Dems could take Raab’s seat, Esther and Walton, Davey replied: “I hope so but we are going to work for it.”
Raab delights Lib Dems by joining more than 10% of Tory MPs saying they will quit at next electionGood morning. “Were you still up for Raab?” used to be a niche Westminster joke about the next general election, highlighting the fact that Dominic Raab, the former deputy PM, was widely expected to be one of the most high-profile Tory losses on election night last year, just as Michael Portillo was in 1997. It was never a particularly good comparison, because Portillo’s defeat was unexpected, whereas Raab’s is already priced in, but now the only thing it can refer to is the moment the Daily Telegraph dropped last night, with the story that Raab is standing down. Our version is here.
Raab, who is only 49, has written a letter to the chair of the Conservative association in Esher and Walton, his constituency, saying that one of the factors behind his decision is “the pressure the job has placed on my young family”. He has two sons, aged 10 and eight. This may well be true. But at Westminster it will be taken for granted that he is announcing his decision to stand down now because he assumes he will lose his seat. His majority over the Liberal Democrats at the last election was just 2,743, and Esther and Walton is one of their top targets.
If this were just a one-off, it would not be so interesting. But, according to the Spectator’s tally, Raab is the 37th Conservative MP to announce they are standing down at the next general election. That is more than 10% of the parliamentary party – a much higher proportion than is normal at this stage of a general election. What’s more, 12 of the others are, like Raab, under 50. In the 20th century it was unusual for an MP to leave the Commons voluntarily before reaching retirement age. Career patterns are changing, but that on its own does not explain what is happening (the Labour MPs who have announced that they are standing down are all in their 60s, 70s or 80s), and it is hard not to conclude that Raab has joined a cohort of Tories who have given up hope their party will be in government after the next election.
Responding to the Raab announcement, a Lib Dem spokesperson said:
The local elections in May showed people are fed up with Conservative MPs taking them for granted. It’s not just Dominic Raab who should go, it’s this whole sleaze-ridden Conservative government.
We will be fighting hard at the next election to finally give the people of Esher and Walton the strong local champion they deserve.
And this is from Monica Harding, the Lib Dem candidate in Esher and Walton.
3K.
Bringing proper accountability to #EsherandWalton
2 wks ago we became largest party at locals & lead the Council.
We’re working hard everyday, listening & delivering for the community.
We’ll keep on doing that pic.twitter.com/ydG1PfpHI1
— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 23, 2023″,”url”:”https://twitter.com/monicabeharding/status/1660913536200069122″,”id”:”1660913536200069122″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”32d27087-6a5d-4c6b-a94f-aafbd1f4f842″}}”>In 2019 I brought Dominic Raab’s 23k majority down to >3K.
Bringing proper accountability to #EsherandWalton
2 wks ago we became largest party at locals & lead the Council.
We’re working hard everyday, listening & delivering for the community.
We’ll keep on doing that pic.twitter.com/ydG1PfpHI1
— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 23, 2023Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Rishi Sunak chairs cabinet.
10am: Claire Coutinho, the children’s minister, gives evidence to the Commons education committee about special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision.
11am: Sunak speaks at the London defence conference. At 3.15pm John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, will be speaking.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs begin a debate on a Labour motion criticising the government for not abolishing or reforming the leasehold system; later there will be a debate on a Labour “humble address” motion calling for the publication of data about the safety of school buildings in England.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.