Rishi Sunak is planning to stay the course in parliament on the backbenches, as friends said the former prime minister was keen to prove a point after multiple jibes about his potential return to California.
Sunak has told colleagues that his children were newly settled in school and he did not want to cause any new disruption to his family life for now after the turmoil of the past few years.
With a family net worth of about £650m, friends say Sunak has no immediate need to pursue lucrative job opportunities, though he is expected to seek out work on artificial intelligence, one of his key interests.
A source said: “Rishi’s a proud Yorkshire MP and he considers it the greatest of privileges to continue to serve his constituents as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton.
“The same people who claimed he’d step down after losing to Liz [Truss] in 2022, and then said he would leave the day after the election, are now saying he’ll quit when he steps down as leader – and they are just as wrong now as they were then. He’s not standing down.”
Sources close to Sunak concede he is unlikely to stand at the next election or play any role in the future course of the Conservative party.
However, there are several other senior party figures – including shadow cabinet ministers – who other Tories say they do not believe will stay MPs for the rest of the current parliament, particularly with the crackdown on second jobs.
The former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden is among those who is rumoured to be considering an exit – denied by his office – but none of those who may quit are expected to depart for at least a year.
“It’s too disrespectful to voters and it’s too aggressive to the new leadership,” said one senior Tory. “But there are several who I think will not stay the course.”
There are several other former cabinet ministers, in contrast, who are keen to get back into parliament after losing their seats. Grant Shapps, a former defence secretary, and Simon Clarke, a former housing secretary, are among those named by colleagues as seeking a return at any opportune byelection.
Speaking at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Sunak said: “I am happy to confirm reports that I will now be spending more time in the greatest place on earth, where the scenery is worthy of a movie set and everyone is a character. That’s right, Mr Speaker, if anyone needs me, I will be in Yorkshire.”
At the budget on Wednesday, however, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, took the opportunity to hint that Sunak could pack his bags and head for Silicon Valley sooner. Introducing a new air passenger duty on private jets, Reeves said: “That is equivalent to £450 per passenger for a private jet to, say, California.”
A deciding factor for other Conservative MPs mulling over their future will be the final set of changes to the rules on second jobs that the government intends to introduce – which could have a big impact on parliamentarians looking to pick up lucrative consultancy work.
Jeremy Hunt, the shadow chancellor, has confirmed he is to resign from the Tory frontbench and return to the backbenches “for the next few years at least” – a sign that he too is intending to stay for the rest of the parliament.
“We had a big drubbing in the election. I think we have to be humble and reflect on that and show new faces to the country. And you know, politics is a rough game, but I’m not complaining,” he told Sky News. “So for the next few years, at least, I will be stepping back from the frontbench.”
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary who came third in the ballot for the Conservative leadership, made clear on Friday he would not serve on the frontbench of either candidate for the party’s top job. “I’m not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again,” he told the Financial Times, talking about the prospect of a shadow portfolio.
