Epping Forest MP Dame Eleanor Laing announces she will step down after 27 years of service

Ellis Whitehouse

23 May 2024 at 1:18 pm·2-min read

Another Essex MP has announced they will be stepping down at the General Election. Dame Eleanor Laing has been a Conservative MP for Epping Forest for 27 years, but has announced she will not be standing in the next election.

The General Election will be held on July 4 this year, following an announcement from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday (May 22). Dame Eleanor, who has also served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons for ten years, joins multiple other Essex Conservative MPs who will not be standing again at the election this year.

In her letter sent to the chair of the Epping Forest Conservative Association, Dame Eleanor said it had been an "honour and a pleasure" to serve the area for so long but felt the time was right to allow others the opportunity to take over.

She said: "It is very difficult to give up the job you love. I have come to the conclusion, however, that it is now time for me to move aside and give others the opportunities that I have been so fortunate to have." Dame Eleanor said she had hoped to inform the local Conservative association in person but the July election announcement had been "sooner than she expected".

She continued: "Epping Forest is a marvellous constituency. Its towns and villages are full of character and the ancient forest itself gives character to the whole area. As the local election results recently showed, I have every confidence we will win this great seat on 4th July. I also have every confidence that our party will flourish. The British people need our principles and values - responsibility, compassion and freedom."

Other Conservative Essex MPs who will be standing down at the election are Robert Halfon, of Harlow, James Duddridge of Rochford and Southend East, John Baron of Basildon and Billericay, and Will Quince of Colchester.

The Telegraph
France is on the brink of all-out civil conflict
As some 500,000 Left-wingers marched in France’s cities yesterday, shouting anti-Fascist slogans, never had Lenin’s phrase seemed more apposite: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
Sky News
Fresh poll predicts Tories will win just 72 seats in next parliament
Two polls published today spell bad news for Rishi Sunak, with one showing a drop of four points and the other that his party is on course to pick up just 72 seats. A poll by Savanta for The Sunday Telegraph showed the Tories down four points to just 21% of the vote - the lowest by that pollster since the dying days of Theresa May's premiership in early 2019. In a boost for Nigel Farage, the poll showed Reform UK up three points with 13% of the vote.
The Telegraph
If the Right can’t unite, Starmer will change Britain beyond recognition
If the polls are accurate, our great country is sleepwalking into a very dangerous future. In just 19 days’ time, the UK could be run by more than 500 Left-wing MPs. We are on the brink of a one-party state that will change our country for the worse.
The Daily Beast
Trump Couldn’t Stop Gibbering in Front of Nation’s Biggest CEOs
Former President Donald Trump left some of the country’s most powerful CEOs scratching their heads, cringing, or just outright laughing during a private meeting in the nation’s capital on Thursday.On MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday, CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin said he’d spoken to several CEOs who were at the gathering, including many who considered themselves pro-Trump. Among the attendees were Apple’s Tim Cook and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon.“They walked away from that meeting, I think, a bit
The Telegraph
Are you ‘far-Right’? Take our quiz!
We hear the term “far-Right” a lot these days. Or at least, we do if we get our news from the BBC, The Guardian or prominent Left-wing pundits. But what precisely do they mean by it? Unfortunately, they rarely say. They tend to just call a party, politician or group of voters “far-Right”, and leave it at that.
Sky News
Vladimir Putin has had another bad week – and eyes are now on the Ukraine peace summit
It has been another bad week for Vladimir Putin. In direct response to his unprovoked invasion, Ukraine has this week been able to sign a 10-year security pact with America - a bridge to its eventual membership of NATO, even if that is still a very, very long way away. EU accession talks for Ukraine will also begin before the end of the month.
Business Insider
A Russian tank stuck in a large crater became a sitting duck for Ukraine's drones, a video appears to show
A video released by Ukraine's 68th Jaeger Brigade appears to show a Russian tank falling into a crater and exploding under Ukrainian fire.
Yahoo News UK
Nigel Farage clear winner of ITV debate, poll reveals
Yahoo readers say they think Nigel Farage was the clear winner of the election TV debate on Thursday night.
AFP
Trump boasts of cognitive test, then flubs doctor's name
Donald Trump is so proud of a cognitive assessment he took while president that he boasted about it in a speech Saturday, while attacking what he claims is US President Joe Biden's lack of mental acuity.As part of his attack on what he says is the 81-year-old Biden's declining mental acuity, Trump told the laughing crowd in Detroit that the president had been lost while at the G7 in Italy, turning "to look at trees," while other world leaders were looking at a parachutist who'd just landed in an
The Independent
Voices: Keir Starmer’s ‘monumental sandcastle’ could soon be swept away
A Labour government might have a huge majority, but weak foundations
The Telegraph
Labour to slap higher council tax on homes with big gardens, say Tories
Home owners with gardens will pay higher council tax under plans being considered by Labour, it is claimed.
HuffPost
GOP Senate Nominee Totally Craps On Donald Trump's Endorsement
The Republican candidate pushed back at the former president's support -- to Fox News, no less.
The Independent
Labour calls for tactical voting to oust Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch could be a surprise Tory election casualty if Labour succeeds in a call for tactical voting
AFP
Shunned by West, Russian army deserters live in fear
Russian officer Farkhad Ziganshin had prepared himself for a life of military service since a young age.- 'Live with dignity' - Ziganshin went to a military boarding school at the age of 10 and graduated from a military academy that prepares Russian tank commanders.
The Telegraph
Britain still doesn’t have a clue about the scale of the disaster heading its way
Reform overtaking the Tories according to one poll is undoubtedly a watershed moment in British politics. But Nigel Farage’s suggestion that “a vote for the Conservatives is now a vote for Labour” isn’t quite right. Because Reform simply doesn’t have the numbers to replace the Tories; only to destroy them, with no clear idea of what would follow. When the red mist clears, what we’re going to be left with is a future far worse than even the wettest of Conservatives could muster.
The Telegraph
Sorry, Sunak – what Britain needs is a leader who’s a bit nuts
Guess who’s to blame for our nation’s woes? According to a Gallup report it’s the “quiet quitters” who are costing the economy £257 billion in lost output. They’re the reason our country has plunged down the league table of the wealthiest nations. And the people at Gallup have figured out that this lack of productivity stems from a growing sense of sadness, stress and anger; all of which cause that loss of motivation. The polling company supposes that only 10 per cent of the workforce puts extra
Evening Standard
Rishi Sunak given a ‘secret briefing’ as Putin nuclear submarine Kazan detected off the coast of Scotland
A Kremlin spokesman denied there was any reason for concern
The Telegraph
How Ukraine’s surplus Western missiles humbled Putin’s billion dollar Crimea defences
The night sky over Crimea flashed with explosions and tracer fire as the barrage of American-made missiles arrived and found their targets.
HuffPost
Milwaukee Democrat Responds To Trump's 'Horrible City' Insult With Brutal One-Liner
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore explained why the former president's slur was pure projection.
The Telegraph
The toxic legacy of lockdown is destroying our political system
I have never known a general election like this one. I cannot remember a national campaign in my lifetime in which the only question for voters was who they hated less.

Latest stories