Lynne Jones to quit Parliament at the next General Election and takes a swipe at Labour

1.06.02pm GMT Tue 16th Jan 2007

Birmingham Selly Oak's Labour MP Lynne Jones has announced that she will be standing down at the General Election, she said "weary" of fighting against her own leadership. She also took a swipe at both Steve McCabe MP and Roger Godsiff MP.

As the selections for the Birmingham Parliamentary seats hot up. Lynne Jones said Steve McCabe should not automatically inherit her seat, but should face a selection contest so that women could apply to be the Labour candidate. As for Roger Godsiff she said he was the wrong person to stand for Labour in Hall Green, as it large Asian population following boundary changes and is likely to be targeted by the anti-war Respect Party at the next election. Godsiff of course supported the Iraq War, the Liberal Democrats will also be campaigning hard in Hall Green and it looks as though, at least on paper, it could be a Liberal Democrat gain.

Lynne Jones attacked Blair and Brown accusing Tony Blair and his Ministers of turning their back on Labour's true values. Her decision to call it a day was prompted partly by her belief that Gordon Brown would take the same approach as Mr Blair if he becomes leader. She said: "I was kind of banging my head against a brick wall. I didn't feel inspired in the way I felt when I first joined the party. We all know there are compromises in politics. As long as it was two steps forward and one step back, it is worth fighting."