RETIRING MP Rudi Vis has announced he has been diagnosed with incurable cancer.

In an emotionally charged and heartfelt letter to the Times-Series this week, the 69-year-old politician talks candidly about his career, people he has met and his personal life.

Dr Vis, who has held the parliamentary seat of Finchley and Golders Green since 1997, was not due to stand in the May 6 elections and had cut back on his political duties in recent months due to ill health.

But he writes: “I have enjoyed the banter, serious conversation, jokes and debates. I probably fool myself into thinking that I have almost never lied.”

He also recalls his working relationships with fellow politicians in Westminster, who he considers “not as enemies, but always as opponents and often friends”.

He adds: “I have enjoyed such friendships with Tory and Liberal Democrat Councillors and other voters, although one can not always utter that in public.”

The decision not to stand in this General Election he says was because: “Talent, if there was any, is not growing as easy.

“Experience might be enhanced over the years, but mere backbenchers face terrific difficulties in making themselves heard.”

He goes on: “Most unfortunately, I have recently been diagnosed with incurable cancer with all its attendant nastiness, chemotherapy, feeling below par and being totally out of breath.”

He describes his former constituency as “special” and “an agreeable and convenient place in which to live”, adding “I have never had the desire to stand anywhere else”.

In reference to some of the scandal that has mired politics, including the expenses claims for which Dr Vis was exonerated, he states: “A lot of people show to far much deference and respect to MPs.

“Some MPs, of course, start believing that they are special and rare and start behaving as if they were, often with dire consequences.”

He highlights his opposition to his own Party's stance on Iraq and student fees, and fondly remembers his successful campaigns on a local level, before thanking all those who have assisted him over the years.

In his final sentiment, he writes: “I have been in love with Jacqui, my partner, wife, confidante and mother to our 15-year-old twins for 25 years and she is utterly marvellous. I thank her for that.

“Both she and I have been honoured by 'our' constituents to be elected and re-elected, variously from 1986 onwards and we shall always remember that with the fondness and humility it deserves.”

Read the letter in full in this week's copies of the Hendon and Finchley Times, The Edgware and Mill Hill Times and The Barnet and Potters Bar Times