Many former police and fire ministers standing down as MPs prior to the general election

After the Prime Minister called a snap general election last week, more and more MPs confirmed that they would not be standing again. The list includes many former ministers who have been responsible for fire, police or both as the portfolios merged in recent years.

The most notable of course is the former Home Secretary, Theresa May who held the post overseeing the police in England for the period 2010 to 2016 before becoming Prime Minister. She presided over the Policing and Crime Act 2017 which introduced the duty to collaborate, saw the return of fire inspectorate in a souped up HMICFRS and gave Police and Crime Commissioners the ability to take on fire – something that has seen little change as only five PCCs have taken on fire since then.

Michael Gove is off. He has had a reasonable stint in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a long form name that seems to change every year as the deckchairs of government shift around. He wasn’t Secretary of State when the Grenfell Tower fire happened nearly seven years ago but has presided over the massive legislative change that saw the creation of the Fire Services Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022. The former created the Building Safety Regulator and substantial changes to fire safety in high rise buildings that will take a generation to come into full effect.

Another Conservative big beast, Sajid Javid is also standing down. He was Secretary of State for the department responsible for building regulations when Grenfell happened. moving on later to be Home Secretary, Chancellor and finishing as Health Secretary. when he left the government in summer 2022.

The only fire minister to recognise me and say hello at an event was Brandon Lewis, MP for Basildon. He was the first to take on both police and fire after the latter moved to the Home Office in 2016 after a decade or so in the Communities department. He worked under Theresa May at the Home Office and dealt with the raft of applications for PCCs to take on fire but the process was so long and cumbersome, very few actually got through and the policy ground to a halt. He is leaving Parliament along with his predecessor, Mike Penning who held the policing brief for two years.

And finally in this list is former shadow fire and police minister, Lyn Brown. I interviewed Lyn for an essay I wrote about her life in a book called The Honourable Ladies published by Biteback in 2019. One of my favourite interviews, where she sat on the sofa in her office in Portcullis House and opened up about her life an political career. She hasn’t been well and says that it is with the heaviest of hearts that she has taken the decision not to stand again; ‘it has been the honour of my life to represent the communities of West Ham.’

MPs have until 7 June to decide if they wish to stand as a candidate in the 4 July elections. For a full lis of who has declared they will not be standing again, visit the Institute for Government website.

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