Housing Secretary Michael Gove and former business secretary Andrea Leadsom have said they will not stand at the general election.

Mr Gove announced after nearly 20 years as the Conservative Party MP for Surrey Heath, and serving in multiple cabinets over the course of the last 14 years, “a new generation should lead”.

In a letter to his constituency chairman, the veteran cabinet minister said being an MP and minister has been a “profound privilege”.

General election latest: Reaction as Gove and Leadsom standing down

Just hours later on Friday evening, Ms Leadsom, who unsuccessfully stood to lead the Conservative Party against Theresa May in the wake of the Brexit referendum, said she would also be standing down.

In her resignation letter, Ms Leadsom said it has been “the greatest honour to serve the people of South Northamptonshire as their MP for the last 14 years”.

Ms Leadsom, who is currently a junior health minister, was business secretary under Mrs May.

She did not praise Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in her letter – but instead said she will “continue to support the Conservative Party through this general election and in the future as the party best aligned with the ideals and values of the people of the United Kingdom”.

Gove says serving ‘honour of my life’

Mr Gove, who held roles including education secretary, chief whip, justice secretary, environment secretary, chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster, and most recently the housing brief, said serving in government had been the “honour of my life”.

He was a vocal leader of the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit debate.

There was also his shock decision to withdraw his backing for Boris Johnson in the 2016 leadership election to replace David Cameron – which ended up seeing Mrs May take the reins of the party.

Mr Johnson had his revenge when he sacked Mr Gove from government as his administration collapsed.

He became the 77th Conservative MP to announce he was standing down – you can read the full list of MPs leaving parliament here.

Mr Gove said: “As a child in Aberdeen I could never have imagined I would have the opportunity to sit in the Commons, let along the cabinet table.

“That four prime ministers asked me to serve the country in their governments has been the honour of my life.”

A blow to the morale of the Conservative Party

Sam Coates

Deputy political editor

@SamCoatesSky

Michael Gove is an iconic figure who has traversed all the 14 years that we’ve had Conservatives in Downing Street.

He’s not just been any other cabinet minister – he’s almost always been at the top table.

He was extremely close to David Cameron when he was prime minister, advising him for Prime Minister’s Questions as part of his kitchen cabinet – that relationship enduring all the way up to the Brexit referendum, when once again he played an absolutely pivotal role leading the Brexit referendum for the Vote Leave side.

Mr Gove was a key face alongside Boris Johnson that delivered Britain’s departure from the European Union.

After a little hiatus from government, he did return under Theresa May and then was central for many years of Mr Johnson’s premiership until he was sacked in the final hours of his time in Downing Street – and then again served under Rishi Sunak.

But I think of late has struggled to feel like he was making as big a difference in government as he has at some time.

It will be a blow to the morale of the Conservative Party because for so many years, when the Conservative Party has perhaps been a little low, Michael Gove has had the wit, the ability and the intelligence to pick them and pick the party up again.

He added: “I also know the toll office can take, as do those closest to me. No one in politics is a conscript. We are volunteers who willingly choose our fate.

“And the chance to serve is wonderful. But there comes a moment when you know that it is time to leave. That a new generation should lead.”

Paying tribute to Mr Gove, Mr Sunak said: “Michael Gove has been one of the most transformative cabinet ministers of recent times.

“His radical reforms as education minister have made real and lasting change with children in England now the best readers in the Western World. He brought dynamism to our levelling up agenda ensuring we spread opportunity no matter where you live and he has been a stalwart guardian of our precious union.

“I want to thank him for his dedicated public service to his constituents and his country, his relentless energy and ideas around the cabinet table and on a personal level, I want to thank him for his generous support and wise counsel.

“The government and the country will be poorer without him on the front line of politics and I wish him all the very best for the future.”

While he was elected with a majority of 18,349 in 2019, Mr Gove’s seat in Surrey is the kind which the Liberal Democrats will be targeting.

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Reacting, Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said: “Conservative politicians are fleeing the blue wall in their droves. Michael Gove is running scared of the Liberal Democrats.

“The drumbeat of Conservative MPs stepping down has been getting louder as the days go by – now it’s deafening.

“Every Conservative MP that steps down in a blue wall battleground is a damning statement against Rishi Sunak and proof the Liberal Democrats are on the up.”