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Gordon Brown will announce he is standing down as an MP “within days”, an ally of the former PM has revealed.

He is expected to formally announce before Christmas that he will quit at the general election in May after almost 32 years as an MP.

The move comes after Mr Brown, aged 63, was widely credited with rescuing the referendum campaign on Scottish independence.

A close ally of the former Labour PM disclosed to the Sunday Mirror: “Gordon has confirmed to friends that he will stand down at the election in May.

“He wants to go out on a high after effectively salvaging the campaign to keep the UK together in September. He will focus on his charity work.”

(Image: Getty)

Since being ousted as PM in the 2010 general election, Mr Brown has concentrated, along with his wife Sarah, on helping charities and his role as UN Special Envoy for Global Education.

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Mr Brown has been criticised for making limited appearances at Westminster since his 2010 election defeat.

But friends say he has been determined to avoid being seen as a “backseat driver” under Ed Miliband’s leadership and was keen to focus on his new role, particularly helping charities in Africa.

Allies of Mr Brown, who was PM from 2007 to 2010, say he has no plans to take up a seat in the House of Lords or to bow to calls to take up a senior Labour role in Scotland to restore the party’s battered fortunes north of the border.

His departure is likely to trigger a ferocious scramble among Labour rising stars for the seat he first won in 1983 and held at the last election with a huge majority of 29,559 votes.

Among those tipped as the frontrunners is Mr Brown’s former speechwriter Kirsty McNeill.

But Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee will play a key role in deciding the likely candidates because they will draw up the shortlists for Labour parliamentary selections after December 11.

Party activists have criticised the move which they fear is more likely to mean Mr Miliband’s circle of London-based advisers get chosen for plum seats at Westminster instead of local campaigners.

Mr Brown’s plan to stand down comes after his former Chancellor Alistair Darling announced earlier this month that he would stand down as an MP in May.