Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has announced that he will resign in the upcoming general election.
The announcement by the former Minister of Justice came in a statement posted on his website marking the 25th anniversary of his presence in Parliament.
“This statement is not the place for a story of 25 years later,” he said.
“But it is intended to use the 25th anniversary of declaring what those close to me have known for some time, that after seven increasingly turbulent parliaments, this will be the last.”
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The MP for Regat spent 11 years in the armed forces before being elected in 1997.
He is also the uncle of actress Emily Blunt.
Last month , Blunt apologized for the “extreme inconvenience and concern” his defense of fellow MP Imran Ahmed Khan had caused. After being convicted of sexually assaulting a boy in 2008.
Blunt had called the ruling a “horrific miscarriage of justice” in a statement on his website.
But he deleted the letter after Conservative Party officials said it was “totally unacceptable”.
In a statement, Mr. Blunt said he had decided to retract his statement and insisted “I do not condone any form of abuse and believe strongly in the independence and impartiality of the justice system.”
Mr. Blunt also tendered his resignation as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on LGBT issues following protests from MPs over his comments.
Khan, who was expelled from the Conservative Party following the ruling, plans to appeal against the conviction.