By our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE

On his way out: MP Paul Scully won’t stand again in Sutton and Cheam

Paul Scully, the Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam, won’t be standing at the next General Election.

In a lengthy social media posting this morning, Scully accused the Tory Party of being “fuelled by division” and needing “a clear focus” or else head down “an ideological cul-de-sac”.

By increasingly appealing to the margins of politics, Scully said, the Conservatives risk alienating the majority of more moderate voters. “We can work with the bell curve or become the bell-ends,” Scully wrote acidly.

Some suspected that Scully had become disenchanted when he offered himself as the party’s candidate to take on Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London but did not even make the Tory candidate shortlist. The Conservatives eventually selected the hapless hairdresser from Harrow, Susan Hall, a far-right whinger.

Next move?: Scully, left, deep in conversation in a Croydon pub last night with Home Secretary James Cleverly

Scully was caught up at the centre of a no-go-zones row last week, which saw him forced to issue an apology (he claims his remarks were taken out of context).

The MP has denied that his decision to stand down had been prompted by the row, and that he had made up his mind some time ago.

It seems that someone within the Sutton Tory party leaked Scully’s decision to the Evening Standard. This earlier-than-expected announcement will make tonight’s meeting of Sutton Council a tricky one for the Conservative opposition. Sutton’s ruling LibDems – still raw at losing both their local MPs to the Tories – will seek to rub salt in the blue wounds.

The last straw came when Scully got “el bow” from his two ministerial positions in November, booted into backbench oblivion in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle. Scully said today that last week’s no-go-gate “confirmed I’d made the right choice”.

Elected to parliament in 2015, Scully had previously owned and run a political and communications consultancy based in Croydon, the Nudge Factory. Among Nudge’s clients had been WEstfield, when they were looking to buy influence for their proposed regeneration of central Croydon.

As if to prove that he does not consider Croydon to be a no-go zone, the Scully was on a night out in a pub in Addiscombe on Sunday, where a prominent figure among the two dozen or so guests was James Cleverly, the Home Secretary.

Ostensibly a birthday party for Az Chowdhury, who took over the running of the Nudge Factory after Scully was elected to Westminster, the gathering of colleagues, friends and family may have been doubling up as Scully’s farewell to parliament event.

Tory counter-attack: Scully’s criticism of the Conservatives might cause ructions

Scully had been returned to Westminster at the last two General Elections with more than 50% of the vote. With him as candidate, the former Minister for London might have managed to retain one of just a couple of seats in the capital that remained blue at the next General Election. Without Scully, maybe not…

Certainly, Scully had expressed reservations about his party’s hostility towards the capital. “It sometimes felt lonely as Minister for London,” he wrote this morning.

“When London works, the UK works, but for that to happen, you have to give it attention, love and care. We should not be disrespectful to Londoners, but treat the mayoral role seriously,” which reads like a deliberate swipe at Hall.

In a lengthy thread on Twitter, Scully wrote, “I have told my local association that I won’t be contesting the next General Election. Over the last nine years it’s been a privilege to represent in Parliament, the area which I called home for 35 years.

Low Standards: Tory hostility to London is counter-productive, says Scully

“My amazing team and I have worked on issues raised by constituents including reuniting mothers with their children in difficult circumstances and getting positive results for many who came to me as a last resort. Of course, there have been many who I’ve not been able to help…

“I’ve worked with the LibDem-run council constructively whenever possible including our successful bids for £11million Future High Streets funding and £14million to improve rail connection between Sutton and Belmont, as well as championing the proposed London Cancer Hub.”

Scully referred to his previously lengthy social media thread when he was sacked as a minister last year, saying, “But as with much of the work I’ve done in Whitehall as minister, plenty is left unfinished.”

Scully’s and Chowdhury’s conversations over the dinner table with Cleverly in Croydon last night were not overheard, although the Home Secretary’s secret service protection officers were only observed coming into the pub after the Editor of Inside Croydon arrived wearing a red Che Guevara t-shirt.

Cleverly declined to be photographed with the journalist because of his choice of clothing. However, Cleverly apparently had no objections to the fetching Arabic-style scarf sported by Chowdhury. So much for fashion statements.

Deep in conversation: the Home Secretary (white shirt, back to camera) and an aide talking with Nudge Factory’s Az Chowdhury

It was the spooks – were they “slow horses”? Or were they “the dogs”? – who encouraged website contributor Ken Towl to pose with Cleverly for one of those selfie things. One or other of them may come to regret the picture…

Here was one of the most important ministers of state at an informal gathering, with a party colleague who this morning was to unleash a barely disguised attack on the Conservatives and their increasing drift towards the far right.

“Fuelled by division, the party has lost its way and needs to get a clear focus which I hope the budget can start to provide,” Scully wrote.

“It needs a vision beyond crisis management which can appeal to a wider section of the electorate, including younger people..

“If we just focus on core vote, eventually that core shrinks to nothing. Talk more about housing; renting first because home ownership has drifted too far from so many. Show a real connection and empathy with other generations. Otherwise we risk pushing ourselves into an ideological cul-de-sac.

“The standard deviation model is true in politics. Most people are in the middle. We can work with the bell curve or become the bell-ends. We need to make that decision. I fear the electorate already is!”

Scully continued: “I’ll continue to represent Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park proudly and diligently in the months to come. My words above are speaking truth to power, not a sign that I believe we should have anything else but a Conservative government.

“There are plenty of colleagues in the parliamentary party and new MPs to come who will respond to the challenge in positive fashion. Do that for the hard-working councillors and activists. But mainly do it for the people across the country whose voice we are.”

Tory HQ will be put out by Scully’s need to make public his withdrawal earlier than they wanted. But now the search for a candidate will begin in earnest. Of Sutton’s sitting Tory councillors only group leader, Tom Drummond, has the will and the gravitas to stand a chance of the nomination, but it seems likely that there will be a coop-load of “chicken runners” looking to stand in what was once a safe Tory seat.

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