Former British foreign minister Jack Straw stepping down as MP - Straits Times

LONDON (AFP) - Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw has said he would step down as a member of parliament at the 2015 general election.

Straw, 67, was foreign secretary under prime minister Tony Blair as Britain went to war in Iraq in 2003.

The lawmaker for the Labour Party, now in opposition, has served continuously as an MP since 1979, representing the town of Blackburn in northwest England.

He was one of only three people to serve in the Cabinet throughout the Labour administrations of 1997 to 2010 under Blair and Gordon Brown.