Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson has announced he will not be standing at the next general election.

The senior Tory MP announced his retirement at a meeting of his constituency association tonight, saying that he felt the time was right to step aside after 40 years serving as a Conservative in several roles.

His leave will bring to an end a parliamentary career that began in 2010 when he finally wrested the seat from Labour, who had clung on in 2005 by the narrowest of margins – 79 votes.

After that disappointment, he secured a majority of 12,383 and at the last election further consolidated his grip with a 24,479 majority.

He told tonight’s meeting that after "much soul searching", he felt he had "done his bit" and it was time for someone younger to take on the job.

And while the polls were not good, he said the party’s fortunes could easily improve.

“Harold Wilson once said famously that a week is a long time in politics, and he was right.

"So a lot can change in the 78 weeks between now and the next General Election. Whenever that election comes I am confident the Conservative Party will once again win here in Sittingbourne and Sheppey.”

“However, the winning Conservative candidate giving their victory speech from the stage in the Swallows Leisure Centre, won’t be me.

"Because, after much soul searching, I have decided to not put myself forward for readoption and the Association will have to find a new candidate to fight the next election."

Mr Henderson added that he had made the decision with a "heavy heart".

"By 2024 I will be 76 years old and will have been working full time for 60 years," he told the meeting.

"Ever since I left school at the age of 16 to go and work in Woolworths, I have devoted much of my adult life to the Conservative Party.

"All in all I have campaigned in various capacities at eleven general elections; nine Kent County Council elections and twenty Swale Borough Council elections.

"By the next general election I will have served the people of Sittingbourne and Sheppey as Member of Parliament for over 14 years, and throughout that time I have given all my energy and dedication to our local community.

"I think you would agree that over the past forty years I’ve done my bit for my community, my country, and my party."

With this in mind he says now is the right time for him to retire and for a younger person to "pick up the reins".

He says he has written to the Prime Minister and the Party Chairman to inform them of his decision.

His retirement opens up the opportunity to inherit what is by any measure a safe Conservative constituency.

Analysis - Political editor Paul Francis

If you were looking for an MP genuinely devoted to their constituency and someone prepared to speak bluntly in support of his constituents, Gordon Henderson would fit the bill.

A doughty fighter on a range of issues, he embodies all the virtues of a backbencher who is independently minded but manages to remain loyal to his party.

He has never shied away from telling his own government where it has gone wrong and what it should be doing.

In November last year, he pressed Rishi Sunak as to when the government will bring forward emergency legislation to "deport migrants coming across the Channel illegally" who are then "being put up in hotels".

He has his roots in Kent, born and brought up in the Medway Towns and left school at 16 to work for Woolworths as a stockroom assistant in Chatham. He stayed with “Woolies” for 15 years and was a senior store manager by the time he decided to move on in 1979.

He decided he wanted to become an MP in 1983, when he acted as election agent for fellow Kent MP Sir Roger Gale. He cut his election teeth fighting a seat in Luton, where he lost by some 10,000 votes.

As a proud ‘Man of Kent’ he has been particularly outspoken on house-building targets set by the government, complaining that developers are swallowing up land and building houses with little regard to the infrastructure needs.

Politically, he has been to the right of the party and his enthusiasm for Brexit did at one point lead to him being identified as a potential defector to Eurosceptic party, UKIP.

He admitted in 2014 he had considered defection but found UKIP to be "muddled and contradictory". However, in an interview with Conservative Home, he said Nigel Farage was the non-Conservative politician he most admired.

In 2016, he made headlines when he suffered serious burns when lighting a barbecue in his garden and was rushed to hospital. After the incident, he spoke about what had happened in the hope that it would encourage others to take more care.

His departure opens up a highly attractive proposition for would-be MPs but it is a constituency which may be looking for someone who has local roots rather than an outsider with loftier ambitions.

A number of councillors may be eyeing up the prize seat but Conservative constituency associations often tend to do their own thing and can be unpredictable when it comes to selecting a prospective candidate.

His retirement is likely to be the only voluntary one among Kent Conservative MPs but it has meant there are selection contests in two seats; the other being the newly-established Weald of Kent seat.

Retirement will give him more time to spend with his wife, Louise and his children and grandchildren.

And he has often expressed his desire to write a book. Perhaps a political thriller?