Jack Straw to stand down at the next election

Jack Straw has tonight told his local party in Blackburn that he’ll be standing down at the next general election. He told the CLP meeting – held at the Central library in Blackburn – that he had made the decision to stand down after a great deal of thought and consultation with friends and family.

Straw, who will be nearly 69 at the time of the next election, was elected in 1979 and has been elected in 8 general elections. He told local members:

“Whatever national position I have held, the citizens of this town, and their children, have always been my first priority.  I am deeply grateful to everyone in the town for the faith which has been   placed in me. I’ve been astonishingly blessed in being able to represent this great town for as long as I have, and for the voters here, and you, the Blackburn Labour Party, to give me the chance to serve on the Opposition Front Bench for 17 years, and as senior Minister for another 13. My love affair with this town is not going to end on 7th May 2015, nor is my connection with it. 

“But there were three issues I had to face. First, that I couldn’t go on forever as the town’s MP. Second, that whether I stood down in 2015, or in 2020, or whenever, it would be a terrible wrench. Third, that whilst I am as certain as anyone can be that I’d have the energy to continue at the pace necessary for three or four years, I couldn’t guarantee that I could keep going at that pace  right into my mid-seventies. To take that risk would be profoundly unfair, on the electors of Blackburn,  on this party, and  on Alice and my family.

“Luck does play a significant part in anyone’s fortunes, and, as I have said, I have been very lucky. So, to put this another way, I did not want to push my luck, to tempt Providence.”

Straw also praised Ed Miliband’s leadership of the party, and said that he “will be devoting all my energies to help put Ed Miliband in Downing Street”:

“As recent weeks have brought home to the public, in Ed Miliband we have a leader who has the ability,  the determination, and the character to take this country to a better, and much fairer place than under this Government. It’s always wise to be careful we wish for.

“I bet Mr Cameron now regrets all those demands, those taunts, he made of Ed for more details of our policy. He got his answers in Ed’s brilliant speech to our Party’s conference.  With that speech Ed changed the political weather. Just two days ago, at Prime Minister’s Questions, we saw Mr Cameron  struggling hopelessly to say what he would do about energy prices.

“As everyone knows who has ever had the misfortune to witness my  mono-mania  during an election campaign, I have never taken any election for granted. Not here in Blackburn, not anywhere. Nor should we. Gaining support at the ballot box is not fundamentally about transactions, but  trust; about managing to persuade voters that their values and ours, their hopes and ours, are the same.

“I am in no doubt that under Ed Miliband we can win the General Election in 2015, with Ed as Prime Minister, and a Labour Government committed to a fairer, and therefore more successful economy and society. I will not be a candidate at that election. But I promise you that I will be devoting all my energies to help put Ed Miliband in Downing Street, to win in Blackburn and across the country.

“Labour is part of my soul, and so is this town.”

The selection process for Blackburn constituency will begin in the coming months – with Straw leaving the local party in a strong position, 9856 votes ahead of the Tories, his second largest majority (after 1997) and a testament to the affection in which he is held by the electorate.