David Cameron quits as Conservative MP for Witney

David Cameron has stepped down as an MP after 15 years saying that he does not want his presence on the Conservative backbenches to serve as a “distraction” to current Prime Minister Theresa May.

Cameron, 49, who resigned as Prime Minister after June's EU referendum, said

May had "got off to a cracking start", while she praised his "great strides" on social reform.

He is said to have hinted that he did not want people to pore over any differences in opinion between himself and her.

His departure will trigger a byelection in his Witney constituency in Oxfordshire.

He denied his announcement was related to the government's controversial policy to increase the number of grammar schools, a policy he rejected as Prime Minister.

He said the timing was coincidental, adding that there were "many good things" in the proposed education reforms and that he had not meant for his decision to come on the same day that the new government introduced a consultation paper on the school policy.

“This decision has got nothing to do with any one individual issue and that way the timing, I promise, is coincidental,” he told ITV news, adding that the reason was a “bigger picture” issue.