Round-up: Martin Salter MP Stands Down

After recently celebrating 25 years in active politics Reading West MP has announced that he will not be the Labour Party candidate at the next General Election (which must be held before May 2010). He has also been asked to join Labour’s national general election campaign team.

The news has hit the grapevine like a bombshell and reports are flooding in. Reading List summarises the response from commentators.

Rumours have been floating around for some time, as confirmed by Douglas Alexander MP, who said "Martin told me more than a year ago that if this parliament ran longer, he was unlikely to stand again."

Official confirmation was finally made at 2pm this afternoon.

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Here is the official announcement from his recently set-up website and the announcement from LabourHome.

The BBC offers an impartial view of his track record and quotes Mr Salter's effusive thanks to his constituents.

The Spectator's Coffee House blog reported simply (but effectively) on the news, admitting this took even their experienced spectators unawares.

Reading Chronicle starts it's coverage by hinting at Mr Salter's desire to retire early with the inference that he and his party are worn out.

The local Conservative-leaning paper continues by giving space for Reading East MP, Rob Wilson, to thank his colleague while ushering him quickly out of the door.

Reading West Parliamentary spokesmen Alok Sharma (Conservative) and Patrick Murray (Liberal Democrat) are quoted as expectations grow that the battle for the parliamentary seat will now be a two-way fight.

Separately they collate reactions from across the board. RBC Labour group leader Jo Lovelock said she wasn't surprised, while LibDem leader Gareth Epps spoke for all concerned to say that "Reading politics is going to be very different. It will be interesting, to say the least".

Loyalist newspaper Reading Evening Post appears shellshocked by the announcement as it is unable to add anything to the news, but it does nevertheless provide access for the voice of the people to be made clear where an mixed undercurrent of bottled-up frustration and relief is the general trend.

Newbury Today (which covers the outlying areas of the Reading West constituency) also record the news.

Local radio station 107FM also reports the news, regurgitating the press release that "a new candidate [will] have long enough to establish themselves in the constituency" in order to defy "political gravity."

Jane Griffiths, Salter's former Reading East Labour MP who turned into his long-time antagonist, reported the event here and has since added the internal Labour party communique of the announcement which has been passed to her.

Local Conservative councillors were cock-a-hoop at the announcement, jumping to the conclusion that their party candidate is now a shoo-in and immediately began speculating on the identity of who could fill Mr Salter's shoes.

Cllr Willis expressed the closeted perspective that Labour often depended on their MP for political direction and leadership and offered failed 2005 Reading East parliamentary candidate Cllr Tony Page, Cllr John Hartley (who lost by 880 votes in Basingstoke in 2001) and stalwart Reading councillor John Ennis who recently took over the Children's Services portfolio after recent controversy (a "poisoned chalice").

Cllr Tony Jones, who worked alongside Mr Salter for many years pours scorn on any chances that Labour may retain the seat in future parliamentary elections by quoting Labour Cllr Gittings, who said after the most recent local elections in the borough that Labour is "fighting elections with an ever-dwindling and under-motivated activist base".

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Update: Green Candidate Adrian Windisch has expressed his relief at the news, while trade union councillor, Tony Jones, passes comment on those of his former colleagues who are being touted as a potential successor.

LibDem PPC Patrick Murray makes an official statement and Cllr Swaine adds his two cents.

Howard Thomas of Reading's own 'Common Sense Party' speaks up.