Outgoing MP Tracey Crouch says there is no conspiracy about her decision to stand down at the next election and she is doing so at the best time.

The Tory, who was first elected in 2010 for Chatham and Aylesford, was talking about that decision and reflecting on her time as an MP on the latest episode of the Kent Politics podcast.

In conversation with KM political editor Paul Francis and local democracy reporter Simon Finlay, she spoke about how she had decided to quit.

She said: “Having gone through my own journey of cancer and coming out the other side feeling well and very content and very happy, I just wanted to try another career.

“I love being an MP and there are lots of things I like about it, but I turn 50 next year and just wanted to try something else; it’s as simple as that...there’s no conspiracy behind it.”

She ruled out the possibility of taking up a job with political connections but said she wanted to use some of the skills and experience she had acquired in parliament.

On her decision to go public about her cancer diagnosis in 2020, she said it was gratifying the response had been overwhelmingly sympathetic.

She added: “I will miss my constituents, they are wonderful and their support is incredible.”

However, she said the abuse directed at MPs had reached a point where some felt increasingly vulnerable – a fear that had become much more pronounced since the 2010 election.

“It’s not the reason I am going but it was one of the factors in my consideration,” she said.

She hit the headlines when she resigned from her ministerial job in 2018 over the length of time the government was taking to implement restrictions on fixed-odds betting terminals.

Asked if she had regretted that decision, she said “not for a nano-second” but insisted she was not anti-gambling and that she bet herself.