By Abdul Tukur

Former Conservative chairman, Sir Eric Pickles would not be standing as the Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar in the June 8 election.

Sir Pickles, 65, who has been an MP for 25 years, is one of several high profile Conservative MPs who have announced that they would be standing down.

Knighted in 2015, the former secretary for communities and local government said he’d “miss it dreadfully.”

However, he noted that he’d continue in his role as the prime minister’s special on post-Holocaust issues.