Craig Mackinlay, the “bionic MP” whose hands and feet were amputated due to sepsis, has announced he will not contest his seat at the general election.
The Conservative MP for South Thanet said after “much soul-searching” he has decided to prioritise his recovery.
Mr Mackinlay only returned to parliament a few days ago after “eight months of hell” and said he wanted to stay on in the job to raise awareness about sepsis and inspire younger people by being known as the “bionic MP”.
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But just hours after he was greeted with a standing ovation by colleagues, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a general election.
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In a post on Facebook, Mr Mackinlay said the election “caused me 36 hrs of intense soul searching”.
“Whilst my heart tells me to stand again, there being so much unfinished business across local regeneration and national issues which are important to me, my head knows this to be impossible at this time.
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“It would be difficult to withstand the rigours of an all-out election campaign, a campaign that I’d always wish to lead from the front.
“Thereafter, upon being re-elected it would be difficult for me to sustain 70 to 80-hour working weeks which were the norm prior to my illness.”
Mr Mackinlay went on to say that he had hoped to phase his return to the Commons over time, as his life currently revolves around medical appointments since leaving in-patient rehabilitation.
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‘My last hurrah’
He added: “I face numerous future operations as a result of the serious sepsis that I suffered which very nearly took my life.
“I have only just started the prosthetic journey and I have weekly physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions.”
In a nod to his emotional final moments in parliament, he said: “I had the most memorable appearance of my time as an MP at this week’s PMQs: it was emotional and the experience quite surreal. I shall never forget it.
“I had expected it to be the start of my return. It will, however, be remembered as my last hurrah.”
He said he will continue to campaign to raise awareness for sepsis and in particular, the signs of its early onset.
“If this results in the saving of one life or the prevention of the type of disablement that I have suffered it will be a worthwhile campaign.
“I will also do all that I can to ensure that multiple limb loss amputees get the right prosthetics at the right time to ensure that lives can return to as close to normality as possible.
“To be elected to the House of Commons is a rare privilege of life.”
The decision comes just eight months after Mr Mackinlay was rushed to hospital with sepsis then placed in an induced coma and given a 5% chance of survival.
He is the latest MP to announce he will not be fighting his seat following Mr Sunak’s surprise decision to hold the election in July.
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On Friday former business secretary Greg Clark said he would not be standing in Tunbridge Wells, saying after two decades in the job “the time is right to pass the baton to someone else”.
After rail minister Huw Merriman and work and pensions minister Jo Churchill joined the exodus on Thursday, it means that more than 75 Tory MPs will not be fighting their seat, which is the highest number in modern political history.
The previous post-war record saw 72 Tories stand ahead of the 1997 election, which Labour’s Tony Blair won by a landslide.
