Finn Baker
@FinnBaker3
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Research Assistant @instituteforgov
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Tim Loughton becomes the 100th MP to announce that they won’t be contesting the next election. Some stats on those who won’t be standing again... 🧵
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Rachel Maclean has confirmed she's out at DLUHC, meaning we'll have our 16th housing minister since 2010. Despite only lasting 279 days, Maclean served longer than the last four of her predecessors.
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A short thread on the 336 first-time MPs who will be rocking up to Westminster this week
[Link to an interactive version of this map: ]
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Greg Clark becomes the tenth select committee chair to announce they are standing down. Really underscores that – regardless of the result – this election is going to mean a significant shift in the composition of the Commons
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NEW: Labour have appointed 32 parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) – backbench MPs who serve as ministers' eyes and ears in the Commons
A thread on those appointed... 🧵
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We're still waiting on the final few ministerial appointments but the new government has more women at every ministerial level
At present, exactly 50% of ministers are women, almost double the proportion under the last government
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100 MPs is a greater number than have stood down at any recent election, but still lower than in both 1997 (when 117 stood down) and 2010 (when a record 149 retired)
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BEHIND THE PACK: Keir Starmer has appointed just 50 ministers, five days after taking office.
By this point in 1997, Tony Blair had appointed 85, while both Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron had appointed 93
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This is the largest cohort of brand new MPs ever - eclipsing the 324 elected in 1945.
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ON THE MOVE: 38 MPs from the 2019–24 parliament are standing in seats other than their closest successor constituency (that is, the seat containing the largest proportion of their former constituents)
I've mapped the moves below
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A bad night for the Conservatives saw a raft of government ministers lose their seats, including 8 members of the cabinet and a further 4 who attend cabinet - beating the previous record (1997) (h/t
@philipnye
for the excellent graphic)
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Nine serving select committee chairs will also be standing down – a larger proportion of chairs than at any election since 2010 – posing yet another challenge to the committee system, already impacted by extensive churn
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The government's working majority continues to come under sustained pressure, down 38 votes from GE 2019 after the suspension of Mark Menzies
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Natalie Elphicke's defection to Labour caps off a pretty difficult seven days for the prime minister, whose majority is now down 43 votes from 2019
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The suspension of the whip from 7 Labour MPs results in the fastest fall in a government's working majority in any parliament since at least 1979 – just a fortnight since the parliament assembled
*(1979–92 parliaments not shown on this chart)
NEW: Seven Labour MPs who voted against the Government on the two child benefit cap are having the whip suspended, BBC understands
Won't be permanent, sources say, but for a period of time likely to be months
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This cohort of retiring MPs contains many notable names, including a former prime minister, 14 former secretaries of state and 35 other junior ministers, both current and former
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If this list is complete (this seems unlikely), the new government has appointed fewer PPSs than any recent government
This would be very welcome: the proliferation of party vice-chairs, trade envoys and PPSs has seen the payroll vote become far too large in recent years
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106 MPs have already announced that they won't contest the upcoming election.
@philipnye
and I will be tracking all the announcements in the days to come as we approach the deadline for nominations on 7 June
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A short 🧵 on the 335 first-time MPs who will be rocking up to Westminster this week
[Link to an interactive version of this map: ]
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After a busy week, we're preparing to wrap up our government formation live blog
Keir Starmer has appointed 111 ministers (so far) to serve in 124 separate posts. I've pulled out some key IfG analysis below
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This rate of attrition is at least partly connected to the political cycle, with many Conservative MPs elected in 2010 choosing now to step away from politics, as are those SNP members elected in the 2015 landslide
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As Westminster winds down for Christmas, many MPs may be turning their attentions to life after parliament.
Already 83 MPs have announced they will not be standing at the next election.
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More than half the House of Commons is brand new and this will undoubtedly affect the culture of the place (on an even bigger scale than the changes in 1997)
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Nearly 70% of those appointed are from the 2024 intake. This may feel like a snub to those MPs who trudged through years in opposition only to be passed over
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We still have five seats left to declare, but as of 9am the Labour Party has won 410 seats to the Conservatives 119.
Just look at the scale of the change: a sea of Conservative blue has been replaced with Labour red and a sizeable chunk of Lib Dem orange
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But it’s not just Conservatives who are stepping down: Mother of the House, Harriet Harman, is also going, as is former SNP leader Ian Blackford. In fact, the SNP are the party with the highest proportion of retiring MPs
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Labour's landslide victory has helped propel the House of Commons closer to gender parity than ever before, with women making up 40% of MPs in the new parliament. This is the biggest jump in the number of female MPs since 2015
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The number of MPs standing down has rocketed throughout the day, with nine announcements in the last 36 hours
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The scale of retirements means that even parties which did poorly in the election have a large number of new MPs.
More than a fifth of Conservative MPs are new: what effect will this have on the upcoming leadership election?
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But a notable minority of retiring MPs come from the 2017 and 2019 cohorts. Political careers have got shorter – perhaps because the vitriol directed at MPs (and particularly female MPs) has increased in recent years
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Conservative MPs represent the largest body of departing MPs, with 63 current Conservative members planning to stand down. Of those elected as Conservative MPs in 2019, 67 are planning to stand down, 11 have already done so, two have died and one – Sir David Amess – was murdered
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Lots more detail to be found in our explainer, along with lots more great general election content from IfG colleagues
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More than half the House of Commons is brand new and this will undoubtedly affect the culture of the place (on an even bigger scale than the changes in 1997)
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Yet another change at the top of the Home Office, as James Cleverly takes over from Suella Braverman
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Scott Benton's resignation, which came four weeks before the Blackpool South recall petition was due to close, means we are facing the 23rd by-election of this parliament
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Stephen Timms returns as minister of state at the Department for Work and Pensions for a third time.
He's been minister for pensions, minister for employment and welfare reform and chaired the select committee in the intervening years. What will he get this time?
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Notably, Miriam Cates revealed several weeks ago that she had considered resigning as an MP in 2020 – just a year after her election – because of the scale of threats of violence directed at her and her family
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And see our (not yet updated) explainer for more info on the role of parliamentary private secretaries:
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Returning MPs must work hard to get their new colleagues up to speed, while we must all grapple with the increasing toxicity of our politics
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Such a level of churn, before voters have even gone to the polls, will undoubtedly affect the character of the next parliament. This will make the task of scrutinising whoever forms the next government that little bit harder.
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It will be a complicated task to induct them to the Commons. Fortunately,
@aliceolilly
and the rest of the IfG Academy team are on hand to help
Have you or someone you know been unexpectedly elected? Follow this link to find out where to go for support
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Exit poll suggests Keir Starmer has led Labour to their 2nd largest ever majority
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After a rush of junior appointments yesterday, government formation is nearly complete (as
@Sachin_Savur
's chart shows)
But how many more can we expect and should Labour MPs sit anxiously by their phones? 🧵
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Starmer has appointed more women to his government than any of his predecessors.
Women make up nearly half of his cabinet and more than half of the ministry overall
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NEW: How is election spending regulated in the UK? an explainer by me and
@DrBenPaxton
The regulated period for party spending has already begun, but do you know your campaign expenditure from your controlled expenditure?
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Rachel Reeves makes history as the first female chancellor of the exchequer in 700 years
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Out today: a new report from the
@Instituteforgov
by
@Sachin_Savur
,
@timd_IFG
and I on the benefits of government transparency
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Some stats on women in public life for
#InternationalWomensDay
from the Institute for Government's ministers team
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Tracey Crouch's announcement brings us to a new milestone: one fifth of Conservative MPs elected at the last general election won't be contesting the next one
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Robert Jenrick leaves government for the second time since being appointed to office in 2018. His rollercoaster career has seen him rise overnight from PUSS to secretary of state and spend 49 days as a health minister.
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It was a bad night to be a Conservative or SNP MP: almost two-thirds of Conservatives MPs who stood again lost their seats, as did 80% of SNP MPs.
By contrast no Lib Dem incumbents lost and just four Labour MPs were unlucky enough to lose office as their party enters power
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In a similar vein, Virginia Crosbie – another 2019er – has been forced to start wearing a stab vest when out and about in her constituency. This followed the murder of fellow Conservative MP Sir David Amess
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If the polls are right and we do wake up to a Labour victory on Friday, when might Keir Starmer appoint his ministers?
We've dived into our IfG Ministers Database to look at how previous PMs have approached government formation
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Other notable PPSs include Torsten Bell, formerly head of the Resolution Foundation, who becomes one of two PPSs for the Cabinet Office and Liam Conlon – son of Sue Gray, the PM's chief of staff – who is PPS to the Transport team
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For
#IWD2024
we've delved into the history of the minister for women – a role created for
@HarrietHarman
in 1997 and now based at the Government Equalities Office
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Mahmood becomes only the 2nd ever female Lord Chancellor and secretary of state for justice
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Full list on the Labour website:
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It will be a complicated task to induct them to the Commons. Fortunately,
@aliceolilly
and the rest of the IfG Academy team are on hand to help
Have you or someone you know been unexpectedly elected? Follow this link to find out where to go for support
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As Westminster returns, bringing with it the prospect of more parliamentary rebellions, worth reflecting that the government’s working majority has fallen at a faster rate in this parliament than in almost any other, including the 1992 parliament
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ELECTION SPENDING: The short campaign begins tomorrow and brings with it limits on candidate spend. But how *is* election spending regulated and what on earth is the short campaign? A short🧵 and a longer (linked) explainer
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Retiring Labour MP Barry Sheerman told the Commons that recent death threats had resulted in ‘dreadful personal stress, and if it had not been for the support of my family and friends, I do not think I would have got through it’
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The 2019 cohort has been shrunk dramatically, largely due to the scale of Conservative loses: it's down from 27% of the Commons to just 11%
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🗳️ It’s by-election day in Rutherglen and Hamilton West – celebrate by reading the
@instituteforgov
handy guide to by-elections since the 2019 general election (1/7)
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These threats affect MPs from across the house: announcing her departure, SNP MP Mhairi Black warned that threats had left her family ‘in a constant state of anxiety for my health and safety’
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All eyes are on the 2nd reading of the Rwanda bill tonight, but how many Conservative MPs need to rebel to spell defeat on the government?
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Ministers deserve better executive support.
In our latest publication, the IfG explores how this can be made to happen
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James Heappey and Robert Halfon's departures from government represent the 9th and 10th resignations of Sunak's premiership
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Many departments currently have fewer ministers than before the election.
The Cabinet Office has four ministers fewer than it did last week – a welcome reduction at the centre of government, which has all too often resembled a ministerial holding-pen
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The prime minister opted for continuity in his cabinet, but made significant changes at the junior ranks
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We now have dates for the latest by-elections: voters will go to the polls in Kingswood and Wellingborough on 15 February. These will be the 20th and 21st by-elections of this parliament, equalling the number in 2010 parliament
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@philipjcowley
There are currently 4 deputy speakers: Roger Gale was appointed as an additional deputy in December 2022
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UPDATED: Now read our newly expanded explainer on PPSs, containing recollections from eight former ministers on what the job involves and the value parliamentary private secretaries can add
NEW: Labour have appointed 32 parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) – backbench MPs who serve as ministers' eyes and ears in the Commons
A thread on those appointed... 🧵
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Read our hastily updated government majority explainer, now in shiny Labour red
(TLDR: the new government will have a working majority of between 183–187 votes depending on the final two results – bigger even than Tony Blair's 1997 victory)
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Firstly, no official Cabinet Office list has been published as yet, but the Labour Party has uploaded it's own list on its website
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One by-election down, two more to go. Still time to check out the
@instituteforgov
by-election explainer – now featuring electoral swing
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But Clark isn't the only MP to announce today – he joins a significant flurry of his colleagues
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Glad to see we were spot on with our estimate for Politico yesterday of the number of new MPs: depending on the results in four of the remaining seats, we can expect 332–336 brand new MPs to rock up in Westminster next week
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Nick Brown, a former Labour chief whip, becomes the 83rd MP to announce they are standing down at the next general election. Brown was suspended from the party more than a year ago following a complaint
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Anneliese Dodds becomes minister of state at FCDO and the junior minister for women and equalities.
She was previously Labour party chair and shadow secretary of state for women and equalities
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The number continues to fall – two more Conservative MPs have reversed their decisions to stand down this morning: Douglas Ross and Andy Carter
30 hours left until nominations close
Have we passed the peak of MPs standing down? After rising rapidly, the number of Conservative MPs standing down has actually started to fall
In the past few days, three Conservative MPs who said they were standing down have found themselves new seats
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This is the largest cohort of brand new MPs ever - eclipsing the 324 elected in 1945
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There were 5 new ministerial appointments last night to replace James Heappey and Robert Halfon.
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However the night pans out, the Institute for Government will be liveblogging the fallout from 8am tomorrow - providing expert commentary on the makeup of the new parliament and the formation of a new government
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Laura Trott becomes the 7th chief secretary to the Treasury since the last general election. Departmental budgets are under pressure and Trott will have a difficult task ahead of her.
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Four of the new PPS were shadow ministers before the election:
- Liz Twist, the PM's PPS, who had been shadow minister for local services and communities
- Ashley Dalton, PPS to the DHSC team, who had been a shadow minister for women and equalities
...
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45 minutes until MPs file into the chamber for PMQs –more than enough time to read our IfG explainer on it's history, who gets to ask a question and how the Speaker maintains order (or at least attempts to)
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All this, and more, on the IfG liveblog. It's been a real team effort, involving more than 20 colleagues
While the live-blog is wrapping up, the IfG will be back next week to discuss the first King's Speech under the new Labour government
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Our latest
@instituteforgov
#MinistersReflect
with
@NorwichChloe
includes her twelve-week stint at DSIT, where she served as maternity cover for secretary of state Michelle Donelan. It contains important lessons on parental leave for ministers. (1/8)
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And finally, here's the state of the parties as of this morning - a stark illustration of how many MPs have been suspended in the current parliament
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Defra has twice as many ministers named Robbie as it has female ministers
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- Preet Kaur Gill, the new DBT PPS, who had been shadow minister for primary care and public health
- Karl Turner, who had been shadow solicitor general and is now the PPS for the Attorney General
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The scale of retirements means that even parties which did poorly in the election have a large number of new MPs.
More than a fifth of Conservative MPs are new: what effect will this have on the upcoming leadership election?
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Apply for a (paid) 12-month internship at the IfG – truly one of the best jobs in Westminster
📢Application deadline for our next round of
@instituteforgov
research internships is next week! We recently spoke to current interns
@FinnBaker3
,
@cal_parris
,
@SameerAiyMaj
,
@JEPattison
,
@DarwinKim_1
,
@BCA_Allen
and
@annadventurelog
about their experiences - highlights below⬇️
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The Independent Expert Panel has dismissed Scott Benton's appeal against his 35-day suspension
As our explainer details, the Commons will now vote on whether to approve the suspension. Since Oct 2022, these votes have been taken without debate/ amendment
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We'll undoubtedly hear more about these new MPs in the coming days and weeks
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And last but not least, the proportion of women in the parliamentary press gallery continues its steady rise – though from a very low base indeed
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The 2019 cohort has been shrunk dramatically, largely due to the scale of Conservative loses: it's down from 27% of the Commons to just 11%
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Cabinet, too, is the closest it's ever come to gender parity (and is balanced exactly if you ignore attendees)
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