The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has described suggestions that he was considering standing down from parliament at the next general election as “nonsense”. Cleverly declared he was “standing at the next election” after newspaper reports claimed he was considering whether to stand. The Telegraph cited “sources close to him” as saying Cleverly had expressed doubts about running again in his Essex constituency of Braintree. The newspaper reported he was frustrated by the “complete mess” of internal rows in his party and wanted to spend more time with his wife, who is recovering from cancer, and his children. But Cleverly, who has been foreign secretary since September 2022, tweeted: “If the ⁦@Telegraph⁩ had spoken to me directly I would have told them that this is nonsense. “I’ve been reselected, I’m standing at the next election.”
A spokesperson for Cleverly also denied claims he would stand down. The 53-year-old was first elected as the MP for Braintree in 2015 and held on to the seat with a majority of almost 25,000 in 2019. Rishi Sunak is facing a mass exodus of MPs in advance of the next election, as the Tories have slumped in the polls. Steve Brine on Friday became the latest Tory MP to detail his exit plans, joining former justice secretary Dominic Raab and former health secretary Sajid Javid. Brine, who has represented Winchester since 2010 and is the chair of the Commons health and social care committee, confirmed his departure in a letter to his local Conservative association. A fortnight ago, Boris Johnson, Nigel Adams, and Nadine Dorries all announced they would be resigning as MPs, although Dorries has yet to do so formally. Last weekend, David Warburton announced he would be resigning as the Tory MP in Somerton and Frome in Somerset, triggering a byelection on 20 July. On the same day there will be byelections in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London after the resignation of Johnson, and in Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire to decide who will replace Adams.