Alistair Darling To Stand Down As Labour MP
The 60-year-old announces he will stand down as MP at the 2015 election after the No campaign won the Scottish referendum.
Sunday 2 November 2014 19:27, UK
Former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling has announced he will step down as Edinburgh South West MP at the 2015 election.
Revealing his decision to quit, Mr Darling, who led the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum, also expressed his exasperation that since the No vote victory in September, support for Labour north of the border has collapsed while there has been a surge in support for the SNP.
He told the Financial Times: "My frustration is that we actually won. You can't say it often enough.
"We made the arguments, we had confidence in ourselves."
The 60-year-old, who became an MP in 1987, was one of only three cabinet ministers to serve continuously through the years of the last Labour government between 1997 and 2010.
When Gordon Brown became prime minister in 2007, he was appointed chancellor and soon found himself at the eye of the storm with the collapse of Northern Rock and the subsequent global banking crisis.
Other frontbench portfolios he held included transport, Scotland, and trade and industry.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Darling was a man of "values, decency and kindness" who had distinguished himself as an "extraordinary public servant".
"He can also take pride that as Chancellor he helped steer our country through the worst financial crisis to hit the world in living memory. His was a calm head when calm heads were needed," he said.
"When he could have left frontline politics, he took on the role as chair of Better Together in the Scottish referendum campaign.
"He will always be remembered for leading and winning that campaign, and keeping Scotland in our United Kingdom."
His leadership of the cross-party Better Together campaign from 2012 was criticised by some for being too negative, focusing on the economic risks of Scotland breaking away from the UK.
But he surprised some, however, when he got the better of SNP leader Alex Salmond in the first of their two televised debates in the run-up to the referendum vote, although the Scotland First Minister was seen to win the subsequent head-to-head.
Mr Darling also came out in support of Jim Murphy in the Scottish Labour leadership race.
He told the FT: "Jim has the enthusiasm, the energy and above all he's a fighter. For too long we have sat back when we need to fight."
Jim Murphy MP, who is standing as Labour leader in Scotland, tweeted: "History will judge @togetherdarling to have made an immense contribution to Labour, Scotland and the whole UK. Deserves all our thanks."
Scottish Labour Party leader Johann Lamont resigned last month, claiming her colleagues "do not understand the politics they are facing".