The exodus from the Conservative Party points to a deeper problem

Editorial: Parties that have been in power for too long usually run out of ideas – but also of talent

(Dave Brown)

There has been a whiff of decay about this Conservative government for some time, and one of the most pungent signs that it is rotting away is the exodus from parliament of some of the party’s better people. Parties that have been in power for too long usually run out of ideas – but also of talent. So it would seem now, after more than a decade of Tory government, in one permutation or another.

Sajid Javid is the latest sitting Tory MP to declare he won’t be contesting his seat at the next election. At 52 he is hardly an old man, he has held some of the most demanding jobs in government, and even in a very bad year for the Conservatives, he ought to be able to hang on in Bromsgrove (majority 23,106).

As the recent career of Jeremy Hunt demonstrates, as well as the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and, possibly, David Miliband, politics is full of surprises. But he’s off, nonetheless.