Agencies/London
Ex-Cabinet minister Alan Milburn has announced he is standing down as an MP at the next general election.
The 51-year-old is expected to emerge as one of Labour’s top earners when, from Wednesday, all MPs are forced to declare how much they are paid for outside jobs. He works for firms including Lloyds Pharmacy and PepsiCo
However, Milburn insisted in a statement he had been considering the decision for “a long time” and wanted to pursue “other challenges”.
“I left frontline ministerial politics, and have not wished to return, because I wanted to have a different way of life,” he said. “I have never regretted doing so. At the next election I will be in my early 50s.
“Standing down as an MP will give me the chance to balance my work and my family life with the time to pursue challenges other than politics.”
Milburn escaped relatively unscathed from the expenses scandal, despite claiming more than £20,000 in each of the years between 2004 and 2008.
As a close ally of Tony Blair, he was tipped as a potential successor as prime minister.
However, in 2003 he abruptly quit, blaming pressure on his family life from working long hours in London.
He returned to the Cabinet in 2004 but stepped down again as the party won its historic third term in office.
A rumoured challenge for the leadership in 2007 never materialised, and Gordon Brown won unopposed.
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