members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MPs) chose to not seek reelection at the 2015 general election, meaning they were MPs in the 55th Parliament, but chose not to contest the 2015 general election (in some cases after being deselected by their parties). While at the previous election there had been a record 149 MPs not standing for reelection, the 89 standing down in 2015 represented a more usual number. These 89 consist of 37 Labour, 37 Conservative, 10 Liberal Democrat, 3 Independent, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Plaid Cymru MP. There were no vacant seats at dissolution. The highest profile members of Parliament leaving were

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

, a former prime minister, leader of the Labour Party (both 2007 to 2010) and chancellor of the Exchequer (1997 to 2007); and

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, the outgoing

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

and

leader of the House of Commons The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of t ...

and former Foreign Secretary (2010 to 2014), leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Opposition (both 1997 to 2001). Alongside Brown and Hague, seventeen former cabinet ministers stood down at the election, including

Stephen Dorrell Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015. Dorrell most recent ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

, Sir Peter Tapsell (the Father of the House having served continuously since the 1966 general election, in addition to his previous service),

Sir Malcolm Rifkind Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...

and Dame Tessa Jowell, all of whom had served at least 23 years in the House of Commons. The highest profile Liberal Democrat to stand down was former leader

Sir Menzies Campbell Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (; born 22 May 1941), often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from ...

List of MPs

In total, 89 members of parliament decided not to stand for re-election.

Notes

References

{{UnitedKingdomMPs 2015 United Kingdom general election Lists of UK MPs 2010–2015