David Curry MP is to stand down at the next election - vacating one of England's most beautiful seats and his projected Tory majority of 11,480.
His office has just issued this statement:
"Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry has announced that he is not to stand at the next general election. Mr Curry was first elected in 1987 to the constituency which, at 900 square miles and straddling the Pennines, is one of the largest in the country.
Mr Curry was a government minister under Mrs Thatcher and John Major. Following the Conservative defeat in 1997 he has twice served in the Shadow Cabinet and has chaired the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee as well as a number of all-party bodies.
Aged 64, Mr Curry has told his Association that he had either to decide to quit while he had the health and energy to tackle other activities and to meet the demands and the pleasures of a growing family (Mr Curry’s seventh grand-child is expected in June) or to face the prospect of remaining in Parliament into his 70s. “Deciding when to quit is one of the most difficult judgements in many professions: in politics, which takes such a huge part of one’s life, it is particularly difficult,” Mr Curry admitted.
He added: “A new generation is now at the helm of the Conservative Party – a very able generation under an outstanding, determined and exciting new leader whom I support strongly and who will be Britain’s next Prime Minister.
“This generation will have to fashion its own triumphs and, inevitably, cope with its own difficulties. My generation did the same.”
Mr Curry said that he would continue to work at full pace in Parliament and the constituency until the general election. He emphasised the “visceral bond” he felt for the people and landscapes of the constituency. He commented: “I shall always feel a special bond with the people and landscapes of this constituency and I have never lost the sense of pride in representing such a “very special part of England.”"
