Amber Rudd, the former UK home secretary and work and pensions secretary who was once tipped as a future Conservative leader, is to quit as an MP at the coming election, she has said. Announcing the news to the Evening Standard, Ms Rudd said: “I’m not finished with politics, I’m just not standing at this election.”Ms Rudd quit the cabinet and gave up the Conservative whip in September over what she said at the time was Boris Johnson’s seeming unwillingness to work for a Brexit deal. On Tuesday, 10 of 21 other Conservative MPs who were stripped of the whip for supporting a backbench-instigated Bill seeking to block a no-deal Brexit were readmitted to the party. Mr Lidington said: “After a great deal of thought I have decided not to seek re-election at the forthcoming General Election. “That is not a complaint: people who seek elected office do so voluntarily.

Source: The Irish Times October 30, 2019 12:56 UTC