Paul Scully served as Minister for London from 2020 to 2023
London Conservative MP and former minister Paul Scully has announced he will stand down at the next general election.
He apologised last week for claiming that parts of Tower Hamlets and Birmingham were “no-go” areas.
Mr Scully, who has represented Sutton and Cheam since 2015, said his party had “lost its way”.
He becomes the sixth Tory MP in London to announce they will not contest the election.
Announcing his decision on X, Mr Scully said: “I have told my local association that I won’t be contesting the next general election.
“Over the last nine years it’s been a privilege to represent in parliament, the area which I called home for 35 years.”
He added that he never intended to “retire as a politician”.
Mr Scully told BBC Radio London that the controversy over his no-go comments was not the reason he decided he would stand down but “confirmed I’ve made the right decision”.
“It wasn’t actually part of the decision making process, there has been a longer drift,” he said.
‘Tories left the pitch’
Mr Scully said he found the “no-go-gate frenzy”, as he called it on X, to be “incredibly frustrating”, saying it was “poor choice of words” and “shows you can’t do community relations in a few minutes”.
The MP said he still believed he would have made the best Tory candidate to be mayor of London after failing to make party’s shortlist last year.
He said the decision to select Susan Hall over him was “effectively the government leaving the pitch in London”.
“I think it’s slightly disrespectful to Londoners that we’re not selling ourselves as viable an option that we might do,” he said.
He said Ms Hall had a “massive gap” to make up, between making criticisms of mayor Sadiq Khan and actually being able to carry out the role.
Image source, Reuters
Paul Scully lost out to Susan Hall to become the Conservative mayoral candidate
Mr Scully listed his achievements as a constituency MP but added there was “plenty left unfinished” from his three years as minister for London – a role he held from February 2020 to November 2023.
The former minister said the Conservatives needed to “get out of crisis management” and “show vision”.
“I’m still supportive and want the party to do well but they’ve got to grab that opportunity because those opportunities are disappearing thick and fast,” he added.
Ms Hall’s campaign team pointed out that Mr Scully had previously “unequivocally” endorsed her for mayor in a column for the Telegraph that was headlined “Susan Hall is the best candidate for London mayor”.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said that it had “taken tough decisions” and progress was being made in London and across the UK.
Analysis by Tim Donovan, BBC London political editor
In the run up to the general election, six Tory MPs in London have called it a day in the House of Commons.
Clearly in some cases that has been in expectation of a Tory defeat – and just not being able to find the energy to hang on against that tide.
But with the latest to head for the hills, Paul Scully, there are specific additional factors.
He was not just hurt but uncomprehending that – despite being minister for London – he failed to make his party’s three-person shortlist for mayor.
That was, he says, because local London members felt that as a minister he might not be seen as sufficiently independent of a Conservative government.
He says the party has missed an epic opportunity to unseat Labour’s Sadiq Khan, and he sees in this more evidence of a party which is out of tune with the capital’s ways and needs to reach parts so much beyond its current core.
Losing his ministerial position in the business department also stung – a reminder of the brutal realities of politics.
A figure who just a few months ago felt right at the heart of it all, up too for the political fight ahead, now starkly concludes that he will not be part of the solution.
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