Senior Tories fear mass exodus from parliament as dozens of MPs set to quit

Former ministers, veterans and newcomers to quit Commons after years of exhausting political chaos

Senior ministers are expecting a total clearout" of Tory MPs ahead of the next election, as party sources cited the experience of Boris Johnson's premiership, the increasing stresses of the job and a continuing slump in the polls as reasons for a forthcoming bumper crop of departures.

More than 40 Conservative MPs have already announced they will step down at the next election - the most for a ruling party since the exodus of 100 Labour MPs ahead of the 2010 election in the wake of the expenses scandal and 13 years in government.