By Julian Whittle Political editor

Last updated at 10:26, Saturday, 27 June 2009

Penrith and the Border MP David Maclean is to step down at the next General Election because of ill health.

David Maclean

The Conservative, who suffers from the debilitating condition multiple sclerosis, says his illness has worsened this year.

He announced his decision to quit to Penrith and the Border Conservative Association last night.

Mr Maclean, 56, said: “I said when I was diagnosed with MS that when it began to seriously affect the way I carried out my work, I would step down. That time has arrived.”

He told how this spring he attended meetings in the House of Commons straight from his hospital bed – against medical advice.

The MP was taken by ambulance this week to vote for a new Commons Speaker following what he described as the worst exacerbation yet of his illness.

Mr Maclean, diagnosed with MS in 1996, said an MRI scan last month

Experts have said the treatment will increase his quality of life and expected lifespan, but that benefits would be cancelled out if he continued an MP’s workload.

The politician said he had planned a last term as MP, but that his constituency – the largest in England – deserved an MP who could go at it “full pelt”.

But he added: “That was what I have done up to now but I cannot do that in future.”

Constituency association chairwoman Isa Henderson said Mr Maclean had been an “outstanding MP” for 26 years, adding: “He has served the electorate extremely well and looked after his patch admirably.”

She said the search for a new candidate would start “as soon as possible”.

Mr Maclean, a former officer in the 51st Highland Volunteers, was elected in 1983 when Penrith and the Border’s previous MP, Willie Whitelaw, was elevated to the Lords.

His Parliamentary career included a stint as chief whip and ministerial posts in agriculture, the environment and Home Office.

But he has never been far from controversy.

He was criticised for his views on beggars, telling the News & Star: “I always give them something – I give them a piece of my mind”.

And in 2007 he promoted a Bill that would have exempted MPs from the Freedom of Information Act and so kept their expenses secret.

He became embroiled in the row over MPs’ expenses, but he strenuously denied the Sunday Telegraph’s claim that he avoided capital gains tax on the sale of his former home near Hesket Newmarket, Deer Rudding, in 2006.

Mr Maclean cancelled a surgery at the George Hotel, Penrith, yesterday because of illness.

JWhittle@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 09:02, Saturday, 27 June 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk