MP Peter Luff is set to quit parliament (From Cotswold Journal)

MP Peter Luff is set to quit parliament

9:50am Tuesday 11th September 2012 in News

MID Worcestershire MP Peter Luff, whose constituency includes Broadway, is quitting parliament at the next general election, it has emerged.

The 57-year-old, who was first elected back in 1992, said it was ‘the right time to call it a day’ after more than two decades as an MP.

He has also stepped down as a junior defence minister immediately, but said he was not pushed out of the role by David Cameron.

Mr Luff met with the Prime Minister at his commons office on Tuesday and said he told him at the start of the conversation of his intention to quit as an MP in 2015.

“I don’t know if he would have kept me on as a minister or not because at the start of the conversation, I told him I was leaving parliament at the next general election,” he said. “So we agreed it was best if I did not carry on in that role.”

Mr Luff said it was an ‘immense privilege’ to be an MP and that he had stayed in parliament for longer than he originally intended.

“I haven’t got anything else lined up, no offers, nothing,” he said. “But I’ve carried on for a long time and it’s right I ended it at some time.”

Mr Luff secured a majority of 15,864 at the last general election, making it one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.