Cunningham: Former 'enforcer'

Former Cabinet minister Jack Cunningham has announced he is to stand down at the next election.

The Labour MP for Copeland since 1970 revealed on Tuesday he will not contest the constituency again, just weeks before the poll is set to be called.

The move will allow the party's National Executive Committee to have a strong say in who is selected to fight the seat for Labour and could provoke criticism that a candidate is being "parachuted in".

However with Cunningham's majority now under 5,000 votes the seat can no longer be considered ultra-safe for the government, which may have been a factor in his decision to retire at the age of 65.

Having served as a junior minister in Jim Callaghan's administration in the 1970s he was one of the government's few figures with ministerial experience when Labour returned to power in 1997.

The leadership loyalist sat in Tony Blair's first Cabinet as agriculture secretary in 1997, where he courted unpopularity by banning the sale of beef on the bone due to a health scare.

He was promoted to the Cabinet Office in 1998 with a brief to be Blair's Whitehall "enforcer".

However he left office only a year later and returned to the backbenches for the first time in over 20 years.

As a senior frontbencher throughout Labour's years in opposition, Cunningham rose as high as shadow foreign secretary under John Smith.

Since stepping down from office he has remained a keen supporter of the prime minister in the media and House of Commons.

He was rewarded with the chairmanship of the cross-party Lords reform committee, although its recommendations were ultimately unsuccessful.

'Privilege'

Cunningham said: "It has been a great privilege to have served Copeland in the House of Commons for 35 years and to have won nine consecutive general elections.

"I have been very fortunate to have had such enduring support from the electors of Copeland and the party.

"That commitment enabled me to serve as a minister in two Labour governments.

"I am indebted to many people for their dedicated support, advice and friendship over many years.

"I shall certainly miss the work, the people and friends both in West Cumbria and the House of Commons, but it is time for someone else to take up the challenge of representing Copeland in parliament."

In a statement, Blair said: "He is one of the leading politicians of his generation and is held in the highest regard by me and the whole of the Labour Party.

"Jack was a major proponent of the changes which made Labour electable again after many long years in opposition.

"He was an excellent minister and has continued to play an important role as a senior parliamentarian, giving wise counsel both to me and to the party in general."