Tories facing third by-election test as another Boris Johnson ally quits as MP

Nigel Adams stepping down ‘with immediate effect’

Rishi Sunak is facing a third electoral test (PA)

Rishi Sunak is facing an unwelcome third by-election test after another MP ally of Boris Johnson dramatically quit his seat on Saturday.

Nigel Adams, the MP for Selby and Ainsty, said he had told his party he would be standing down “with immediate effect” – triggering a contest to replace him.

It comes less than 24 hours after the prime minister learned he would be facing two difficult elections in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and West Ruislip seat and the Mid Bedfordshire constituency of Nadine Dorries, who also quit on Friday.

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“Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate. I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect. It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated,” Mr Adams said in a statement posted on Twitter.

The outgoing MP has represented the West Yorkshire seat since 2010 and on paper has a large majority of over 20,000 votes.

But with the Tories lagging as far as 20 points behind in the polls and the unpredictability of by-elections, opposition parties are likely to regard the seat as as an opportunity to deal a blow to the beleaguered government.

While Mr Adams did not publicly link his departure to Mr Johnson’s decision to step down from parliament, he is regarded as a close ally of the former prime minister – having served as his roving minister without portfolio.

Like Ms Dorries he was reportedly in line for a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours – but none materialised, amid Tory concern that the party would have to fight a series of difficult by-elections.

MPs who are elevated to the House of Lords have to resign their seats in the Commons, with by-elections taking place to determine their successor.

The West Yorkshire MP was said to be angry at the decision, for which he blames Mr Sunak. The Daily Express reported that he had turned down a place in Liz Truss’s Cabinet and announced he was quitting as an MP on the expectation that he would have a seat for life in the Lords.

“Nigel has now been left with nothing. He will never get into the Lords now; he’s been completely shafted by Sunak,” the newspaper reported one friend as saying.