Mark Spencer predicting next General Election will be 2024
(Picture: PA)The next General Election is set to take place in 2024, Commons Leader Mark Spencer said on Wednesday.
The Cabinet minister also said some MPs from the 2017 and 2019 intakes may not be of the highest calibre given that their selections may have been rushed for snap elections.
“We’re aiming at a 2024 election, everybody knows that,” Mr Spencer said in a forthcoming interview with The House magazine.
“It gives political parties much longer to scrutinise their own candidates. Hopefully we will end up at the end of that with better MPs on all sides of the House.”
His comments are likely to squash speculation that Boris Johnson may call an election in 2023, or even later this year, a rumour which has been circulating recently at Westminster.
Mr Spencer also cast doubts over the quality of some newbie MPs currently in Parliament.
“I don’t think having two rapid general elections in a row has helped parliamentary parties,” he explained.
“The Labour Party, Liberal Democrats will all have selected candidates quite quickly, not realising a (General Election) was coming. I think we’ll be in a much better place at the next General Election, certainly in the [Conservative] party as we will have taken much more time to scrutinise people. There will be a much longer process.”
His comments came as Parliament has been hit with fresh allegations of sleaze, sexual misconduct and bullying.
Imran Ahmad Khan, who became MP for Wakefield in 2019, quit last month after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at a party in 2008.
However, the latest controversies also include MPs from older intakes.
Neil Parish, elected in 2010, resigned recently as Tory MP for Honiton and Tiverton after admitting viewing pornography in the Commons Chamber.
