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Former Olympics Minister Dame Tessa Jowell announced tonight that she is standing down at the next general election.

Her announcement draws to a close her career as a London MP after more than 21 years - and sparked speculation that she will run for Mayor in 2016.

“This is, I think, the hardest decision I have ever taken,” she said in a letter to members of her Dulwich & West Norwood constituency party.

“As you all know, since the day of my selection in 1990, I have felt the strongest bond with, and commitment to, our constituency. I have loved every day that I have served as your Member of Parliament and have felt, all that time, the sense of awe, honour and responsibility at representing 80,000 electors.”

In her Westminster career, Ms Jowell was one of Tony Blair’s closest Cabinet allies, served as Minister for London and Culture Secretary.

But it was her role in helping to secure, then plan and execute the London 2012 Olympics that pushed her status beyond day-to-day party politics.

Olympics chief Lord Sebastian Coe, now chairman of the British Olympic Association, was one of the first to pay tribute to her role.

“She was the political driving force behind our bid to host the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and an inseparable part of their ultimate success,” he said. “I will be forever grateful for the role she played in both.”

Mr Blair said Dame Tessa was “a very unusual type” in the brutal world of politics. “She is immensely able, tough-minded and determined. But at the same time and with the same people, she is kind, decent and loyal in a way I have seldom seen in politics.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, praised her “enormous commitment” to the arts as Culture Secretary.

Dame Tessa first stood for Parliament in 1979 in Ilford North and lost. In 1992 she won Dulwich and quickly made a name as an articulate and telegenic young Labour moderniser.

After Blair’s 1997 landslide she became Health Minister, then Education and Employment Minister and made Cabinet after the 2001 election. As Culture Secretary she planned and campaigned for London to host the Olympics, beating Paris in 2005.

Her Damehood in the 2012 Birthday Honours was awarded for political and charitable services, in particular the Olympics.