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| Conservative MP David Ruffley to stand down in 2015 | Conservative MP David Ruffley to stand down in 2015 |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Tory MP David Ruffley is to retire from Parliament at the next election. | Tory MP David Ruffley is to retire from Parliament at the next election. |
| The MP for Bury St Edmunds had been under pressure after accepting a police caution for a common assault on his former partner earlier this year. | The MP for Bury St Edmunds had been under pressure after accepting a police caution for a common assault on his former partner earlier this year. |
| In a letter to his party, he said that he had apologised for his actions and had "considered the matter closed". | In a letter to his party, he said that he had apologised for his actions and had "considered the matter closed". |
| But he said a "protracted media debate" about his future would not "serve the interests" of his party and he was leaving with a "heavy heart". | But he said a "protracted media debate" about his future would not "serve the interests" of his party and he was leaving with a "heavy heart". |
| Mr Ruffley, who was first elected in 1997, received a police caution for an incident in central London in March but he only made his first public comment on the issue a week ago. | |
| Local activists in his Suffolk constituency had been due to discuss Mr Ruffley's future at a meeting on Thursday and a petition calling on him to stand down had attracted more than than 20,000 signatures. | |
| 'Unrelenting intrusion' | |
| Among those calling on him to consider his position was the Dean of Mr Ruffley's local diocese St Edmundsbury, the Very Revd Dr Frances Ward, who had sent him a letter reminding him of the "seriousness of the assault". | |
| In a letter to Andrew Speed, the chair of his local Conservative association, Mr Ruffley said he had apologised for what he said was a "very regrettable incident" and said he had hoped to move on. | |
| But he said he had "reluctantly come to the conclusion that a protracted media debate on my private life, whatever the motivation or however misinformed, would not serve the wider interests of the Conservative cause in East Anglia". | |
| He added: "Nor at a human level, am I prepared to continue to sustain the unrelenting orchestrated intrusion into my private life... It is therefore with a very heavy heart that I wish to inform you that I will not stand again at the 2015 general election." | |
| Conservative Chief Whip Michael Gove said "he was sorry that Mr Ruffley will be standing down at the general election in May 2015, but fully respect his reasons". | |
| Mr Ruffley was re-adopted as a Tory candidate for the 2015 election before the incident took place and the party will now need to find a new candidate to contest the seat. |