Rishi Sunak is facing a third by-election after a close ally of Boris Johnson announced he is stepping down from the Commons with “immediate effect”.
Conservative MP Nigel Adams has announced he is following the former prime minister and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ out the door of Westminster.
The MP for Selby and Ainsty previously said he would quit at the next general election.
In a tweet on Saturday, he said the Selby Conservatives had selected an “excellent new parliamentary candidate and he has today “informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect”.
He added: “It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated.
“I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.”
Mr Adams is a long-standing ally of the former prime minister, having supported Mr Johnson to be Conservative leader in 2016 when he decided not to throw his hat in the ring.
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 potentially damaging by-election contests, although Number 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 at a time when they are flailing behind Labour in the national polls.
Mr Johnson sensationally quit on Friday after receiving a report into the Commons investigation about whether he lied over partygate.
In a scathing 1,000-word resignation statement he claimed a “witch hunt” is under way to “take revenge for Brexit”.
He was also critical of Mr Sunak and said the Conservatives’ gap in the polls has “massively widened” since he left Number 10.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries told her TalkTV channel “something significant did happen that changed my mind” but refused to be drawn on what that was in the cryptic interview.
The Conservatives won the North Yorkshire constituency in 2019 and Mr Adams was elected with a majority of 20,137.
Under new boundaries, the majority of the constituency will be included in the new constituency of Selby.
A parliamentary candidate was selected by Selby Conservatives on Friday ahead of the next General Election and Mr Adams informed the chief whip on Saturday that he would stand down immediately.
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Mr Adams was first elected as MP for Selby and Ainsty in 2010 and has held several positions in government under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
He resigned from his position as minister of state without portfolio in September 2022 after Liz Truss was elected prime minister.
