Conservative and former Conservative MPs choosing to stand down at this election include Nicky Morgan (Con), Heidi Allen, Mims Davies (Lib Dems), Sarah Newton and Seema Kennedy (Cons)

The Conservatives are now the Brexit party, senior Eurosceptics declared last night, as a succession of moderate Tories opposed to leaving the EU without a deal announced they were standing down.

Downing Street has made clear that all their candidates will be expected to support getting Brexit done “immediately” after the election.

Boris Johnson’s successful leadership campaign was fuelled in large part by Conservative MPs’ belief that he could vanquish Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which came first in May’s European elections while the Conservatives slumped to fifth.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said: “We are the Brexit party now because there is no other space for us to occupy. Every candidate standing will accept that our job and duty first and foremost