Tyne Bridge's David Clelland is latest MP to stand down
So another one bites the dust. Tyne Bridge's David Clelland is the latest MP to announce he's standing down at the next election.
It's clearly been a recent decision.
His seat disappeared in boundary changes but he fought tooth and nail to get selected for the new Gateshead seat in 2006, seeing off competition from the town's other MP Sharon Hodgson (subsequently selected for Washington and Sunderland West).
But of course a lot has happened since then.
Like so many, he fell foul of bad publicity on expenses.
An arrangement which saw him buy out his partner's share of the mortgage on their London flat led to negative headlines.
And it appears Sir Thomas Legg may well have queried that in his audit of expenses.
If he stayed on he could have also had to sack his own partner Brenda, who also happens to be his secretary.
But he says it was intimations of mortality that have made him decide to step down.
The sudden death over Christmas of the North West Leicestershire MP David Taylor at the age of 63 was the moment he says he decided to go.
Mr Clelland is almost 67 so will be in his 70s at the likely end of the next parliamentary term.
He leaves a plum seat in Gateshead which should be a safe bet for any Labour candidate.
The party filled another prime vacancy at the weekend.
Pat Glass was picked from an all-women shortlist to fight Durham North West. She succeeds Hilary Armstrong.
She's a 52-year-old education adviser from Lanchester in the constituency.
The Conservatives have already picked medical doctor and academic Michelle Tempest.
The Liberal Democrat candidate is local financial adviser and councillor Owen Temple.
Labour still has to select for vacancies in Wansbeck and Tyneside North (Standing down respectively Denis Murphy and Stephen Byers).
Will any more of our MPs stand down?
Probably, but time is now running out so it will have to be within the next few weeks.
I'm Richard Moss, the BBC's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show. 
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