Selby MP Nigel Adams becomes third Tory MP to quit in 24 hours

Less than 24 hours after his name failed to appear in the published retirement honours list of Boris Johnson, he tweeted that he would no longer be an MP. 

His announcement came within hours of his local Conservative Association announcing that they had chosen the candidate to compete for the Selby and Ainsty seat at the next general election. 

Mr Adams said more than a year ago that he would not stand again for Parliament. 

He is the second Conservative MP to stand down with immediate effect after they were not included in Mr Johnson’s retirement honours list. 

Both he and Nadine Dorries had been tipped to get peerages.  

In a tweet, Mr Adams said this afternoon: “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 (and) educated.”

There will now be three by-elections in Conservative held constituencies after Mr Johnson himself quit with immediate effect yesterday. 

He had been sent details of the findings of the parliamentary privileges committee which had been investigating whether he lied to Parliament or not about breaking Covid-19 restrictions by holding parties in 10 Downing Street during the pandemic. 

If it had decided he should be suspended for Parliament for 10 or more days that could have triggered a by-election in his seat. 

Mr Adams was a minister without portfolio in Mr Johnson’s Cabinet after holding junior ministerial roles under Theresa May.  He was not among more than 50 ministers who resigned during the final days of Mr Johnson’s premiership. 

He has not held a ministerial post since. 

Mr Adams, now 56, was first elected to Parliament in 2010, when the Selby and Ainsty seat was formed during a general redrawing of constituency boundaries.   At the last general election he won 33,995 votes, or 60 per cent of votes cast. 

A Brexiteer, he was chairman of the all-party parliamentary biomass group until 2017 and favours biomass over wind and solar green energy.   He was also chairman of the all-party group for music until 2017 and championed the difficulties of UK musicians getting visas to perform in the European Union. 

Born in Goole, he attended Camblesforth Primary School and Selby Grammar School. In 1994, with a £20 a week Enterprise Allowance Scheme Government grant, he co-founded Advanced Digital Telecom, which was sold for £3.1 million to JWE Telecom in 1999.[3]