MPs have tried to kill themselves – ex-minister on mental health in parliament

Members of parliament have tried to kill themselves due to the “almost unsustainable” nature of the job, a former Conservative minister has said.

Former international development secretary Rory Stewart said it is a “miracle” that some of his former colleagues have not died by suicide, while others have had “total breakdowns in public”.

Speaking ahead of the publication of his new memoir, Politics on the Edge, Mr Stewart also said he “despised” the “creeping” MP he became before leaving the Commons in 2019.

“I don’t want to talk about the specifics because this is deeply personal to people but, yes, colleagues tried to kill themselves,” he told GB News.

“These are people I knew. And in very serious ways – I mean, they almost killed themselves. It’s a miracle they aren’t dead.

“There were other colleagues who had total breakdowns in the most humiliating, personal, embarrassing fashion possible, in public.”

He went on: “I think it is because the gap between the way that MPs are encouraged to present themselves to the public and who they really are is almost unsustainable.

“It’s mad because you’re pretending to be all-knowing, perfect, dynamic, confident. You are pretending that you’ve got the answers to everything, and that ‘I know where we’re going’.

“The truth is, this is a country of 70 million people, and politicians don’t really know what’s going on. And yet we pretend to the public that we do.”

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Asked how he felt when he was an MP, he said: “I ended up despising myself. I would find myself sort of creepily trying to sit next to David Cameron at lunch, and I’d send these texts saying, you know, ‘Congratulations on your latest policy’ that I didn’t really believe in.

“And so I began to feel that I was being made, in my early forties, into some kind of child.

“I’d been the acting governor of an Iraqi province responsible for three million people, and a Harvard professor, and I’d run a charity in Afghanistan.

“I thought that I was a reasonably substantial person. And I realised that, as soon as I became an MP, all that was wiped out. Nobody takes you seriously any more.”

But the former Tory leadership candidate said he wished he had become prime minister.

Asked if he wished he was now in the top job, he said: “Yes, I do. I think it would have been a pretty tumultuous ride. It’s not been easy – Brexit, Covid – but I felt that we had a real opportunity in 2019 to try to bring the country together a bit more. I felt it was terribly kind of divided and fractured.”

He said he parted ways with the Conservative Party because “I belong to a tradition of a much more centrist, more traditional conservatism”, adding: “Also, I don’t feel comfortable in the direction that the party’s going at the moment.”

But he said he is not a Labour supporter and believes that both major political parties are “basically old, dead and broken”.

He said that, while there are “some wonderful people at parliament”, there is also a group of people who are “very, very bitter – unfortunately, mostly men – who feel passed over and feel that their basic mission in life is to try to humiliate other people”.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.