Three years on from the 2016 referendum, and two years from the last General Election, the Conservative party continues to feel the reverberations. Nearly forty MPs who were elected as Conservatives in 2017 have now announced they are standing down. Is the Conservative Party jettisoning its moderate wing?

At first glance, it’s an easy accusation to make.  The majority of those leaving Parliament are those from the ‘centre-left’ of the party, including as David Lidington, Alistair Burt, Caroline Spelman and Nick Herbert.  It would be easy to say that the Conservative party is ceasing to represent its one-nation roots, and indeed former Conservative MPs who have defected to other parties, like Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston, have been quick to make this accusation.

There is no doubt that the long division within the party over Europe continues to cast its shadow. Yet it is important to try and separate out the European issue from the Conservative One Nation tradition first established by Benjamin Disraeli.  Indeed it’s noticeable that Margot James, one of the rebels who helped pass the Benn-Burt Act, explicitly sought to separate the two in her resignation letter to the PM. “When we spoke a few months ago you said that we agreed on just about everything apart from Brexit.  I agreed with what you said, and I trust in your One Nation outlook, as evidenced by your outstanding record as Mayor of London.”  Whatever your view on Europe, you can still be a One Nation Conservative.

Delivering on the referendum result will be the centrepiece of the Conservative campaign – “Get Brexit Done” was the slogan on the PM’s lectern as he launched his campaign yesterday.  There is now a deal that every Conservative MP can unite behind.  That was evident from the Second Reading vote in the Commons last month on the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill, where there were no Conservative rebels and almost every independent ex-Conservative voted aye.  However the party needs a majority to govern – this election is also about delivering that.

What then of the exodus of Conservative MPs? Aside from a few exceptions, the majority are those who have been in the House for 15 years or more – Bellingham, Duncan, Lidington, McLoughlin, Benyon, Soames, Burt, Fallon, Simpson. Others, such as Nicky Morgan, have cited the depressing abuse received on social media and in public.  Some simply want to try new careers – the era of MPs staying in the House for thirty years is rapidly coming to a close.

It is this that is the most concerning issue. The Leader of the House in the valedictory debate estimated that the Commons was losing over 540 years of experience in the Members who are standing down. Look again at that list in this light – former Deputy PM David Lidington, former Transport Secretary and Party Chairman Patrick McLoughlin, former Chancellors Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond, former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, and Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt to name a few.

The days of former holders of the great offices of state, or even ex-senior ministers, providing their pearls of wisdom to guide the next generation through the challenges ahead seem to be receding. It is sad to see so many wise heads retire, but I look forward to discovering the talents of the 2019 intake in the weeks and months ahead.