Matthew Offord announces he will stand down as Hendon MP

Matthew Offord has announced he will stand down as the MP for Hendon at the next election.

In a surprise statement the 53 year-old, who has been MP in the north west London seat since 2010, announced he was stepping back to “pursue other interests in my life.”

Offord said the next election was the time “to leave the baton for someone else to take up.”

In a lengthy statement the MP praised the “religious diversity” in Hendon which he added “means that a successful representative does not pander to one demographic or another, acknowledges that faith remains important in the daily lives of many.”

Amongst the highlights of his career in Westminster, Offord said he was “proud” to have “won security funding for faith schools” and to have “supported Free School status for Etz Chaim, one of the first free schools in the country.”

He also noted the role he had played “to have led the campaign to proscribe Hezbollah.”

Last June, Offord admitted he had received conflicting opinions from constituents over their support for former PM Boris Johnson.

During his political career, Offord had been outspoken in his support for Israel, and was an officer in the Conservative Friends of Israel group.

At the last election, he won a 4,230 majority against Labour candidate David Pinto-Duschinsky, a former adviser to Alastair Darling, who is Jewish.

Pinto-Duschinsky has been selected to fight the seat again at the next election for Labour.