MP Tam Dalyell ready to retire

Labour MP Tam Dalyell will retire at the next election after more than 40 years in the Commons "awkward squad". He harried Labour governments as well as Tory on a range of causes.

During the Falklands War, he repeatedly claimed the Argentinian cruiser Belgrano had been sunk by a British submarine while steaming away from battle.

His other long-standing cause is opposition to Scottish devolution. Edinburgh-born Mr Dalyell, 71, was educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he was president of the university Conservative association before switching sides.

He became an MP in 1962 and at the last election he was named Father of the House as the longest-serving MP.

He served from 1964 to 1970 as an unpaid aide to Cabinet minister Richard Crossman, and for a spell as Labour's science spokesman in opposition under Michael Foot.

His agent in his Linlithgow seat, Brian Fairley, said today: "He is going at the next election. It is mainly because of his age, although boundary changes are a factor."