Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, to stand down at next election

Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford, has announced she is to stand down at this year's expected election.

Ms Crouch has been an MP since 2010, and served as a minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport between 2015 and 2018.

In her letter to her constituency chairman she described her reasons as "entirely personal and positive".

Ms Crouch has recovered from breast cancer after her diagnosis in 2020.

In 2023 she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Breast Cancer Kent.

In her letter she said: "While everyone's cancer journey is different, for me going through a diagnosis and coming out the other side of treatment has been a life affirming experience.

"It has been an opportunity to pause and reflect on my own personal priorities and based on that I truly believe it is time to seek a new professional challenge."

Ms Crouch, a keen football fan, qualified FA coach and Tottenham Hotspur supporter, was awarded the CBE in 2022 for organising a fan-led review into the sport.

She quit her ministerial post in 2018 and returned to the backbenches over what she claimed was a delay to a crackdown on maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting machines.

She said her "loyalty to the Conservative Party remains as strong as ever".

"I have a great deal of fondness for my constituents," Ms Crouch added.

"There have been battles lost, victories won, but there has never been a dull moment."

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