Former home secretary Amber Rudd has announced she will stand down from parliament at the general election.
Ms Rudd walked out of Boris Johnson’s cabinet and resigned the Conservative whip last month in protest at the expulsion of 21 fellow Tories for rebelling against a no-deal Brexit.
But she was not one of the 10 MPs invited back into the Tory fold on Tuesday as Mr Johnson sought to prepare the ground for the 12 December election.
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The 56-year-old independent MP for Hastings and Rye – once tipped as a future prime minister – made clear that the decision did not mark the end of her political ambitions.
She told the Evening Standard: “I’m not finished with politics, I’m just not standing at this election.”
Ms Rudd – who had previously indicated she could leave her hyper-marginal constituency and fight a London seat as an independent – did not rule out a return to the Commons in future but said there were “many other things I want to do”.
Ms Rudd said it was “difficult” to quit the cabinet, but said she did it out of “solidarity” with colleagues whose Conservative values she shared and respected.
She said she was pleased that Mr Johnson had now invited some of them back into the party and allowed them to stand as Tories at the election.
But she added: “I’m just very pleased the party appears to be reasserting itself, although it’s disappointing it does not include a few of them.”
Among those expelled last month who have not yet had the whip returned are her former cabinet colleagues Philip Hammond, Oliver Letwin and David Gauke.
Investment banker Ms Rudd entered parliament in 2010 as part of the socially-liberal wave of Tories fostered by David Cameron, and was soon promoted to ministerial rank, joining the cabinet as Energy Secretary following the 2015 election.
She campaigned for Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, famously telling a live TV debate that Mr Johnson “is the life and soul of the party, but he isn’t the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening”.
(EPA)
She was sent to stand in for Theresa May in a TV debate in the 2017 general election when the then prime minister refused to face other party leaders.
May had appointed her home secretary on her election as Tory leader, but her stint was cut short in 2018 when she resigned after admitting misleading a parliamentary committee about the deportation of members of the Windrush generation.
She was restored to the cabinet as work and pensions secretary in November last year and stayed on in the post under Mr Johnson, who also made her minister for women and equalities.
Also announcing plans to stand down from parliament at the election was Derbyshire Dales MP Sir Patrick McLoughlin, 61, who served as transport secretary from 2012-16 and Conservative party chairman from 2016-18
