Conservative MP Steve Brine to stand down at next election

It emerged in March that Mr Brine was being investigated over claims he lobbied the NHS on behalf of a recruitment firm

Senior Conservative MP Steve Brine has announced he will stand down at the next general election.

The Winchester MP and chairman of the Commons health and social care committee said it was time for a "new chapter" in his life.

It emerged in March that he was being investigated over claims he lobbied the NHS on behalf of a recruitment firm.

Mr Brine was a junior minister at the health department between June 2017 and March 2019.

In a letter to his constituency association in Winchester, which he has represented since 2010, he said: "When I first entered Parliament I had in my mind to serve for 20 years, or four general elections, whichever came first.

"This wasn't a hard-and-fast rule, and I don't think anyone could have predicted the events of the past 13 years, but it feels like the right time now, for both myself and the family.

"Going forward, I feel I can pursue some of the issues I care about, in health and perhaps elsewhere, outside Parliament as well as within."

The 49-year-old said he was "very proud" to have helped secure "significant new investment" to develop an elective hub and orthopaedic outpatient facility at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

In March he faced calls to stand down from his committee role after leaked messages from 2021 showed Mr Brine had been "trying for months" to contact health bosses while acting as a paid consultant for Remedium Partners.

The MP said he was responding to a call from ministers to help the NHS during the Covid pandemic.

Mr Brine was previously been reprimanded by Acoba, the watchdog that oversees appointment rules, for inviting then-vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi to take part in an event in 2021 hosted by a different company, Sigma Pharmaceuticals, where he was a paid adviser.

Acoba also criticised him for failing to inform them he was taking up the role with Sigma until after it started, something he blamed on "poor admin on my part".

Other high-profile Conservatives who have already confirmed their departure at the next election include former justice secretary Dominic Raab and former health secretary Sajid Javid.

Mr Brine won his Winchester seat by about 1,000 votes at the last general election in 2019, just seeing off a Liberal Democrat challenger.