Louise Mensch 'sorry' to resign as MP

Louise Mensch has resigned as MP of Corby and East Northamptonshire. Credit: PA Wire

Tory Louise Mensch has announced she is to stand down as MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire. In her time as MP since 2010, she's taken a key role in the News International phonehacking affair, set up a rival service to Twitter and was tipped to climb the Westminster ranks.

Good luck messages were posted on the Menshn site this morning, which Mrs Mensch set up with former Labour technology expert Luke Bozier as a reaction to her experiences in using Twitter.

But her husband, Peter Mensch, manager of rock band Metallica, lives in New York and she has been forced to divide her time between the UK and US.

Mrs Mensch told Mr Cameron that letting her to work from her constituency on Thursdays and Fridays had allowed her to spend more time with her children.

"Unfortunately, it has not proved to be enough. I am very sorry that, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to make the balancing act work for our family," she said.

The Prime Minister replied that he was aware it had been "a particularly difficult period for you and your family".

Louise Mensch's CV

  • 1995: First novel, Career Girls, published. Mensch has since published 13 more novels in the chick-lit genre.

  • 2006: Placed on Conservative A-List, designed to broaden the amount of Conservative MPs from minority groups and women.

  • 2011: Appointed to Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and later incorrectly claimed that Piers Morgan had written in his autobiography about conducting phone hacking while he edited the Daily Mirror.

  • 2012: Founded Menshn with Luke Bozier, designed to provide a platform for providing quality discussion around specific topics such as UK politics.

Boris Johnson gave his views on the announcement earlier today:

In her resignation letter to David Cameron she wrote:

The Prime Minister responded: