ROBERT Kilroy Silk has ruled himself out of the Hartlepool by-election.
After the UK Independence Party (UKIP) decided to contest the seat there was talk that Kilroy Silk was preparing to stand.
But last night he said he would not be throwing his hat into the ring in the by-election.
Mr Kilroy Silk said he had reached the decision because he did not want to let down the people in the Midlands who had voted him in as an MEP in June.
UKIP will now be making its selection from two candidates, Steve Allison, an Independent Hartlepool councillor, and Chris Williamson, a UKIP activist, at a meeting on Wednesday evening.
Accountant and local councillor Iain Wright, 32, will be fighting the seat for Labour with the Liberal Democrats naming their candidate as 35-year-old barrister Jodi Dunn.
Conservative Party chiefs said their appointment was imminent.
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