Senior Tory Advisers Are "Jumping Before They Are Pushed"

A double whammy departure of two senior Tory advisers is the latest reason for the growing sense of general election fatalism within Conservative party ranks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must call an election before the end of this year, and Labour's consistent poll lead suggests they will not only return as the next government, but with a whopping majority. 

This year has seen a steady trickle of familiar faces announce that they intend to quit politics, with Tim Loughton becoming the sixty-fourth Conservative MP to announce that they will not contest the next general election. Loughton, first elected as the MP for East Worthing and Shoreham 27 years ago, admitted to PoliticsHome that the grim prospect of being on the opposition benches, where his party achieved "absolutely nothing" in the early years of Tony Blair's Labour administration, was one reason why he had decided to call it a day rather than endure another desert "period".

But news this week that a key duo behind the scenes, two of the Conservative party's most experienced special advisers (also known as SPADs), were on their way out shows the depth of malaise in Whitehall, and sense that many are keen to get a headstart on their next moves.

One is Cameron Brown, a widely-respected government official with five years of Government experience, including stints in No 10, the business department and the Treasury, where most recently he had been adviser to Chancellor the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and Kwasi Karteng.

The other is Steph Schwarz, who alongside Brown was one of the most experienced special advisers left in the Tory fold after several years of churn brought about by three prime ministers in short succession. She has left her role as special adviser to Richard