FORMER Tory leader William Hague has rejected calls for a return to front-bench politics, but says he wants to remain MP for Richmondshire.

In an interview with a national newspaper, Mr Hague also said he would like to start a family with his wife, Ffion, and write more books.

The 43-year-old, who lives near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, told The Daily Telegraph: "I feel fortunate that, by the age of 40, I had crammed in an entire political career.

"I had been in the cabinet and been leader of the party, so now I can branch out into other things. It is a very liberating feeling."

Mr Hague has recently released a biography of William Pitt the Younger and says he wants to write more books while keeping his Richmondshire seat.

Saying he no longer wanted to be Tory leader or Prime Minister, he said: "I did give my whole late-20s and my whole 30s exclusively to the Conservative Party and to politics.

"I just do not accept that I have to spend my entire adult life in some leading role in the party."

Asked about starting a family, he said: "I have not got an announcement to make at the moment, no; but some time before it is too late, we would like to do that."