They were falling thick and fast ahead of the close of nominations at the end of last week. More than 70 sitting members of parliament have decided they won’t risk coming back for more. It’s difficult to keep up. Nicky Morgan, the work and pensions secretary, and her former cabinet colleague Amber Rudd are both standing down as candidates. Boris Johnson lost his third cabinet minister in as many months when the Welsh secretary resigned, caught out over what he knew about a protégé’s misconduct in a rape trial. Alun Cairns is still hoping to put his name before the voters in the marginal seat of Vale of Glamorgan.

In this deluge of departures the most politically significant is the surprise retirement of the deputy