Bob Marshall-Andrews will stand down at the next election

AFTER weeks of speculation, Bob Marshall-Andrews today officially announced that he will not be standing again at the next General Election.

The serial Labour rebel – who famously announced that he had lost the last election and blamed Tony Blair and Iraq, just to discover he had won with a majority of 213 (the 11th smallest majority of the current Parliament) – has represented Medway for the last ten years after overturning the 8,786 vote majority (when he came second in 1992) into a 5,354 vote majority in 1997.

Since 1997, Marshall-Andrews has rebelled 134 times, and a senior Labour MP once demanded the whip be withdrawn from him – a demand which failed.

But why is he standing down? Although he is 63, he certainly has plenty of life in him yet – a lot more so than Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

His main aim in the past few years was to get rid of Tony Blair as Prime Minister, which has now happened, and Marshall-Andrews has endorsed Gordon Brown as successor.

There is also the near-certain defeat at the next General Election to look forward to. People in Medway (Rochester and Strood at the next election) like his opposition to many of the Government’s unpopular bills, but it is now likely he will be less rebellious under Brown.

By standing down, Marshall-Andrews is paving the way for a younger, more charismatic and fresh candidate to stand for Labour and boost their hopes – and it is something the Conservatives have to consider out for when they choose their candidate.