General election: Former chancellor Phillip Hammond standing down as MP – Sky News, Sky.com

             

Former chancellor Philip Hammond will stand down as an MP after announcing he won’t contest the 12 December general election.

He posted on Twitter: “It is with great sadness that I am today announcing my decision to stand down as Member of Parliament for Runnymede & Weybridge at the forthcoming General Election. “

Mr Hammond served as chancellor under Theresa May but resigned hours before Boris Johnson succeeded her as prime minister.

He was subsequently expelled as a Conservative MP – by having the Tory whip withdrawn by Mr Johnson – after he voted to block a no-deal Brexit.

Last month, Mr Hammond told Sky News hisintention was to stand at the next general election as an independent candidate, if he didn’t have the Conservative whip restored.

However, in a letter to his constituents on Tuesday, Mr Hammond explained he could not bring himself to present a “direct challenge” to the Tories at the 12 December poll.

: “The Conservative Party that I have served has always had room for a wide range of opinions and has been tolerant of measured dissent.

“Many parliamentary colleagues have defied the party whip on occasions without any action being taken against them.

” But however aggrieved I feel at the loss of the whip, and however strongly I believe that we must deliver Brexit through a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU to protect British jobs and prosperity, I remain a Conservative and I cannot, therefore, embark on a course of action that would represent a direct challenge in a general election to the party I have supported all my adult life. “

Mr Hammond was among 21 rebel MPs to have the Tory whip withdrawn by the prime minister in September.

Ten of those had the whip restored last week, but Mr Hammond was not among that group after he voted against Mr Johnson’s proposed timetable for the House of Commons to pass his Brexit deal.

At the weekend, it was reported Mr Hammond had signalled in conversations with the prime minister’s aides that he would not contest his Runnymede and Weybridge seat as an independent if he was given the whip back, so he could retire as a Conservative MP.

The Sunday Times also claimed the ex-cabinet minister was seeking to create a “Tory Momentum” campaign – in a nod to the Labor-supporting activist group of the same name – through the setting-up of a grassroots lobbying group of young business leaders to change the character of the Conservative Party.

in his letter to constituents, Mr Hammond added: “I will remain an active party member and I will continue to make the case for doing whatever is necessary to deliver a negotiated close future trade and security partnership between the UK and the EU.

“I shall also seek to promote a widening of Conservative Party membership to include more younger business and professional people who support our long-established core values, to held to ensure that the Conservative Party of the future is a broad-based, forward-looking, pro-business and pro-markets center-right party. “

Mr Hammond was first elected as an MP in 1997 and served in four cabinet roles under ex-prime ministers David Cameron and Mrs May.

He was one of the richest members of those governments with an estimated worth of more than £ 8m, a wealth earned from his business career prior to entering politics.