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Paul Scully served as London Minister from 2020 to 2023
London Conservative MP and former minister Paul Scally has announced that he will resign at the next general election.
Mr Scully, who has headed Sutton & Cheam since 2015, said the party had “lost its way”.
Announcing his decision on X, Mr Scully said: “I have informed my local association that I will not be running in the next general election.
“For the past nine years, it has been an honor to represent the Congress I have called home for 35 years.”
He added that he had no intention of “retiring as a politician.”
Mr Scully told BBC Radio London that the controversy over his negative comments was not the reason for his decision to resign, but that he was “convinced that I had made the right decision”.
“It wasn’t really part of the decision-making process. There was more of a drift,” he said.
“The Tories have left the pitch”
Mr Scully said he found the “no-go-gate frenzy” he spoke of on It shows that it can’t be done.” Few minutes”.
He said the decision to select Susan Hall over himself was “effectively taking the government off the pitch in London”.
“I think it’s a little disrespectful to Londoners that we’re not promoting ourselves as a viable option,” he said.
He said there was a “huge gap” for Hall to bridge between criticizing Mayor Sadiq Khan and actually being able to carry out the role.
Paul Scully lost to Susan Hall as Conservative mayoral candidate.
Mr Scully cited his achievements as a constituency MP, but added that he had “a lot of unfinished business” in his three years as London minister, which he held from February 2020 to November 2023.
The former minister said the Conservative Party needed to “get out of crisis management” and “show a vision”.
“I still support them and want the party to do well, but they have to seize that opportunity because it’s fading fast,” he added.
Mr Hall’s campaign said Mr Scully had previously “unequivocally” endorsed Mr Hall for mayor in a Telegraph column headlined “Susan Hall is the best candidate for Mayor of London”. He pointed out that
A Conservative Party spokesperson said the party had “taken tough decisions” and said progress was being made in London and across the UK.
analysis by Tim Donovan, BBC London Politics Editor
Ahead of the general election, six Tory MPs in London have insisted their time in the House of Commons is over.
Obviously, in some cases they expected a defeat for the Conservatives, but they simply could not find the energy to resist the tide.
But Paul Scully, who heads to the Hills these days, has a special addition.
Not only was he hurt, but he also couldn’t understand why he was not included in the party’s three mayoral candidates, even though he was a London minister.
He says that’s because local London MPs felt that as a minister he was not seen as sufficiently independent from the Conservative government.
He said the party had missed a golden opportunity to unseat Labour’s Sadiq Khan, adding that the party had strayed from its capital ways and had spread far beyond its current core. Find further evidence of what needs to be reached.
Losing his cabinet position in the business sector was also painful. This was a reminder of the cruel reality of politics.
A man who just a few months ago felt right at the center of it all, and who is open to the political fight ahead, has now come to the harsh conclusion that he is not part of the solution.