Minister joins the exodus

The trade minister Anthony Nelson joined other bright middle-rank ministers, including Stephen Norris, Richard Needham, and Tim Eggar, who have decided to stand down from Parliament at the next election.

A former merchant banker, he has been MP for the safe seat of Chichester since 1974, and his departure will start another selection stampede by those MPs who have been displaced by constituency boundary changes. Mr Nelson, 48, said that "for family and personal reasons, I have decided to turn my energies to something new". His wife, Caroline, a cordon bleu cook, is reported to have multiple sclerosis.