Hereford’s MP Paul Keetch is telling his local party members at their AGM tonight that he intends to stand down as an MP at the next election. He was elected in 1997 and is currently serving his third term as MP.
Paul stated that he took the decision to announce his retirement tonight as some members had asked to begin the process of re-selecting him this evening. He has also said he told Ming Campbell, while he was still deputy leader, of his intentions 12 months ago.
Keetch’s seat will be a prime target for ambitious PPCs – with a majority of just 962, Hereford is winnable next time, but needs a lot of attention. Paul Keetch has pledged to work closely with his successor.
His local party have not announced when they will commence the selection process.
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7 Comments
Ha. I win the race to edit Wikipedia 🙂
I think it’s a pity Paul is standing down as I think he has been an effective MP. As he is only 46 it is obviously not retirement as such. Has he given a reason? Perhaps like Richard Allan he has got fed up with Parliament and wants to do something more interesting.
Or perhaps his various shags have finally caught up with him? Or perhaps he’s got half a brain and knows he’s going to lose?
“His local party have not announced when they will commence the selection process.”
Did anyone ask them, this was posted as the local party were being told – give them a chance!
As it happens there do have a rough timetable, but have to have Selection Committee training (from myself) first.
Colin
It wasn’t intended to be a dig – which is why I didn’t write something like “his local party have not YET announced…”.
His release was issued under embargo – I observed the embargo. As the press release didn’t mention a selection timetable I added the sentence as I felt sure someone would ask 🙂
Forgot to say Paul’s news release is at http://www.colin-ross.org.uk
You can now watch the video via http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/news/956.html
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[…] Can’t help notice Paul Keetch, the Lib Dem MP for the city where I went to school, is to retire. […]