MP Luff to step down at election (From Evesham Journal)

MP Luff to step down at election

8:00am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News

EVESHAM’S MP Peter Luff is quitting parliament at the next general election, it has emerged.

The 57-year-old, who was first elected in 1992, said it was ‘the right time to call it a day’ after more than two decades as an MP.

He has also stepped down as a junior defence minister immediately, but said he was not pushed out of the role by David Cameron.

Mr Luff, the MP for Mid- Worcestershire, met with the Prime Minister at his commons office on Tuesday, and said he told Mr Cameron at the start of the conversation of his intention to quit as an MP in 2015.

“I don’t know if he would have kept me on as a minister or not because at the start of the conversation, I told him I was leaving parliament at the next general election,”

he said.

“So we agreed it was best if I did not carry on in that role, and I think that was the right approach.”

Mr Luff said it was an ‘immense privilege’ to be an MP, and that he had stayed in parliament for longer than he originally intended. “I haven’t got anything else lined up, no offers, nothing,”

he said. “But I’ve carried on for a long time and it’s right I ended it at some time.”

He also put out a statement backing the Government and saying he remained a strong supporter. “The Coalition is grappling with huge challenges, the scale of which is only just becoming clear,” he said. “David Cameron and his ministers will enjoy my robust support as they address them with the determination and energy I know they will demonstrate.

“It has been an immense privilege to serve the county of Worcestershire in parliament – for 23 years by the time the next election is held in 2015.”