By Tony O’Reiley-
Dehenna Davison, the Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, has announced her intention
to stand down at the next general election.
The 29-year-old was elected as the County Durham constituency’s first ever Tory MP in 2019.
Levelling Up minister Ms Davison is the fourth Tory MP to announce their departure this week.
Ms Davison said she now wanted to devote more time to “life outside politics – mainly to my family”.
She said: “I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my time to politics, and to help make people’s lives better.
“But, to be frank, it has meant I haven’t had anything like a normal life for a 20-something.”
Ms Davison has recently spoken out against “toxic” abuse on Twitter and has campaigned to reform sentencing for single-punch killings.
She reassured her constituents she “absolutely won’t be checking out” and will continue to serve them “with the same gusto and dedication right until the day when I hand the baton on to the next person who will have the honour of representing the amazing people of Bishop Auckland”.
She added she was grateful to Conservative Party members who gave “a young, working-class lass from Sheffield the opportunity to serve as an MP”.
Bishop Auckland Conservatives chairman Luke Allan Holmes said Ms Davison had worked “tirelessly” for the constituency.
“She has been instrumental in securing over £70m of government funding for our area and has given put our area the kind of national spotlight that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago,” he said.
Working class, northern, and big on TikTok, she was the first Conservative MP to represent Bishop Auckland. She was a different type of Tory and certainly not prepared to be backbench fodder.
Her decision to take a presenting role on GB News stirred up opponents, but she was also among the first Conservatives to call on Boris Johnson to resign over Partygate.
She was an enthusiastic backer of Liz Truss but I am not sure she and Rishi Sunak are on the same Conservative page.
That might be one reason for her decision, though she will be accused of bailing before Labour could eject her. Proposed boundary changes are quite kind, though, and – privately – even opponents tell me she could survive.
Of the 2019 northern Conservatives, she is one who could earn more money outside Parliament than in. But she is clear her family, and her desire to live a little – she is only 29 – are behind her decision.
It’ll be up to those Conservatives still standing to prove she and the Tory triumph in the North were anything more than temporary phenomena.
Dehenna Davison, 29, a levelling up minister, is viewed as one of the rising stars in the Tory party, so the news of her intention to step aside will come as a surprise.
“For my whole adult life, I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my time to politics, and to help make people’s lives better,” the MP for Bishop Auckland said in a statement to the Northern Echo.
“But, to be frank, it has meant I haven’t had anything like a normal life for a 20-something.”
Ms Davison’s announcement came shortly after Sir Gary Streeter said he would not run again in the South West Devon constituency he has comfortably held since its conception in 1997.
The relatively young age of Tories who have announced they will be standing aside will raise concerns about a potential loss of young talent within the party.
Ms Davison had been brought into government by former prime minister Liz Truss and was kept on in the role when Rishi Sunak took over, with her prospects in the party seeming high.
She is also a prominent figure in the so-called red wall of former Labour strongholds Boris Johnson managed to capture for the Tories in the previous general election.
In 2019, Ms Davison won Bishop Auckland with a 7,962 majority – despite the constituency having always voted Labour since 1935.
After becoming the eighth Tory MP to say they will not be standing again, the party is braced for a growing exodus as opinion polls suggest the Conservatives are facing an almighty challenge to recover their popularity.
In his announcement, Sir Gary said a local replacement in the constituency must be selected “to give us the best chance of holding this seat”, hinting at some doubts.
He won the seat by 21,430 votes over second-placed Labour in the 2019 general election.
“It has been an honour and privilege to represent this constituency for over 30 years, but the time has come for me to step back and let a younger person take over,” the 67-year-old said.