Sir Paul Beresford: Veteran Surrey MP to stand down at next election

Sir Paul Beresford will not stand again as an MP, citing "midnight sittings" and "a diary built around the whims of the whips' office" as reasons for retiring.

Sir Paul, 76 has been Conservative MP for Mole Valley since 1997.

He said in an email he would not stand again in the new constituency of Dorking and Horley.

He was previously MP for Croydon Central from 1992 before moving to Surrey ahead of the 1997 election.

The next general election is due to take place by January 2025 and changes to constituency boundaries will come in before then, meaning the current Mole Valley constituency will no longer exist.

Under current plans, the constituency will be split with just over 60% forming most of the new Dorking and Horley seat.

Sir Paul, who is also a practising dentist, returned a 25,453 majority in 2015, and 24,137 in 2017, but this was reduced to 12,041 in the 2019 general election, with the Lib Dem candidate, and Mole Valley Councillor, Paul Kennedy in second place each time.

Sir Paul was parliamentary under-secretary at the Department of the Environment during Sir John Major's government from 1994 to 1997.

In an email to constituents, Sir Paul said: "I cannot express how grateful I am to the voters in Mole Valley who have consistently supported me for so long and trusted me to be their representative in the House of Commons - it has been a great honour. "

He said he had given "serious thought" to standing in the next election and the decision to step back had "not been easy".

Sir Paul added: "I am very much of the view that anyone elected as an MP owes it to their constituents to throw themselves entirely into the role, and when you find yourself beginning to wonder what life without midnight sittings of the House and a diary built around the whims of the whips' office might look like - it is probably time to step back."

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