Frank Dobson to retire as Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras
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Version 0 of 1. The veteran Labour MP Frank Dobson has confirmed that he will step down at Britain's 2015 general election. The former cabinet minister formally announced his decision not to seek a ninth straight general election win at a meeting of party members. "I have decided to pack in when people are stopping me in the street to say they hope I am not going – rather than waiting until they ask why the hell I am still around," he said. Now 74, the avuncular bearded Yorkshire-born politician has represented Holborn and St Pancras in London since 1979. He was made health secretary by Tony Blair when Labour swept to power in 1997. His spell at the top table was cut short when Blair persuaded him to run as the party's candidate to be the capital's first elected mayor. After finishing third behind former colleague Ken Livingstone and Tory Steve Norris, he returned to the backbenches and spoke out against a string of party policies including the Iraq war, top-up fees for students, the marketisation of parts of the NHS and longer detention without charge for terror suspects. With Dobson having secured a majority of almost 10,000 in 2010 the seat will be very attractive to would-be MPs. Among names tipped as possible successors alongside local politicians is the former director of public prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer. "It has been an honour to represent the people of Holborn and St Pancras for all these years and to have made at least some contribution to making it a better place to live," Hobson said in a statement. "I am proud of the people I represent. They get on together and help one another. Outsiders who have tried to stir up divisions have always failed. Common sense and human decency have prevailed." The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said: "Frank is one of parliament's finest and he will be sorely missed. On behalf of the Labour party I would like to thank him for his dedication, strong sense of social justice and his years of service to our party and our country." A number of Labour MPs paid tribute to a politician David Lammy called a "great guy and tireless campaigner". The shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Ivan Lewis, said: "Frank Dobson falls into the category of 'they don't make them like that any more'." |