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Tory MP Caroline Spelman said she will stand down at the next election following months of abuse and death threats over Brexit.

Ms Spelman, 61, said she, her family and colleagues had been hit by a fierce "intensity of abuse arising out of Brexit".

Announcing her decision to quit after 22 years in parliament, the MP for Meriden said: "Quite frankly, we've had enough".

The former Environment Secretary said the abuse had worsened since an amendment was moved earlier this year to show there was no majority in Parliament for a no-deal Brexit.

She said: "Twenty-two years is a long time in politics but I have never experienced anything like the last few years.

"And actually for me the last six months have been extremely difficult."

Ms Spelman said fears for her safety had forced her to wear a "panic button" around her neck.

"You know, it comes to something when you feel afraid to move around the place where you live," she said.

"But you know, sadly, we know from the tragic death of Jo Cox it can happen."

Ms Spelman, whose constituency sits between Birmingham and Coventry, said: "Myself, my family and my staff, have borne an enormous brunt of abuse and I think quite frankly we've had enough.

"The anonymity the internet affords allows people to say things which if they said it to your face or they wrote it down, would not be legal."

The 61-year-old said she also had to consider her frontline staff's welfare.

“If people ring up with threats to kill, or a string of abuse, who wants to start their Monday morning like that? It wears them down," she added.

Ms Spelman rejected being labelled a Conservative "rebel", after the party's chief whip told her she could vote with her conscience in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The self-styled Tory party loyalist, supported a bill opposing a no-deal Brexit in defiance of the government.

However, she also backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson to get a deal with Europe, and said: "He's confident he can get a deal and I think we've got to believe that he's going to try."

Asked how she would vote on Monday's forthcoming Government motion calling for an election, she said: "I think that we do need a general election to clear the air.

"The question is when, and I think Boris should have the chance and have the time to get a deal."

Ms Spelman, a former chairman of the Conservative Party, has also spoken up in support of her 21 former party colleagues who had the whip removed after backing Tuesday's earlier Commons motion to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

She said: "I feel very sorry for my colleagues and I think I need to do all I can to right an injustice.

"As a former party chairman, as I recall the rules, they have the right of appeal and their seats can't be selected while that goes on."

Ms Spelman said she had been driven to help avoid no-deal, because of the risk to her constituents, many of whom are employed by car-making giant Jaguar Land Rover.

She added: "I am not an actual rebel but I have been prepared to take the cost of a strong position on a no-deal Brexit.

"Because the evidence from the cabinet office briefing shows the West Midlands is one of the places that will be the worst affected."

Ms Spelman, who voted every time in favour of Theresa May's withdrawal agreement, added: "My constituency voted Leave and I am respectful of that.

"But I believe it is very much in their (my constituents') interests that we leave with a deal in an orderly fashion."

In the hours after Ms Spelman announced her resignation, Rory Stewart, who was one of the 21 MPs to have the Tory whip withdrawn tweeted that he was "very proud" to attend an event alongside her.

And like Mr Stewart, she said she would not be joining another party or becoming an independent.

However, she has now agreed to serve on the steering committee of the Citizens' Forum, to be chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is set to start a "process of national reconciliation" on Brexit.

She said: "I am much more of a reconciler than a warmonger."