LONG-serving East Hampshire MP Michael Mates has announced he will not stand at the next election after 32 years of service - 18 of them representing Alton. The veteran MP, 72, has decided he is not going to put his name forward when candidates are selected to contest the redrawn constituency for the district. He told The Herald this week: "It has been a pleasure and an honour to serve in the House of Commons for the last 32 years as the member first for Petersfield and then for East Hampshire. "I am very grateful for the loyal support I have had from my electors over these years. "Meanwhile, I will of course be continuing to carry out my full duties as an MP until the end of this parliament." Alton was taken out of the East Hampshire constituency in 1983 and returned in 1997, so it was, for 14 years, part of the Winchester Parliamentary Constituency. Mr Mates said that he was delighted when in 1997 the boundaries were changed and Alton and the surrounding area was returned to the fold. "Alton fits much better into East Hampshire than it did into Winchester," he said. In the next general election, the constituency boundaries are to undergo yet another change in a move that will see Alton, Petersfield and Bordon brought together within a revamped East Hampshire which, for the purpose of the exercise, will lose Clanfield, Horndean, Denmead and Rowlands Castle to a newly- formed Meon Valley. Mr Mates said: "If the next general election is held, as expected, in 2009 or 2010, it will be fought on new constituency boundaries. This change seems the right moment for me to stand down." Mr Mates was Northern Ireland minister for four years in the early 1990s and also spent 12 years on the defence committee, six of those as chairman. Currently he sits as the senior Conservative on the intelligence and security committee. Most memorable in his years representing East Hampshire, he said, was helping to establish a new trading estate in Bordon in the 1970s. And he lobbied for 17 years for a bypass to take the A3 around Petersfield and Liphook. In Alton, he started the "Save the Treloar" (hospital) campaign in 1974. He said: "We got the then health minister down and the hospital was indeed saved for another decade or so. When the battle was finally lost, Alton was in the Winchester constituency, but I have been heavily involved in the problems associated with the building programme there, in particular over the lack of infrastructure." It has not always been plain sailing during Michael Mates' long spell as an MP. In 1993, he resigned from his role as Northern Ireland minister over his links with fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir. It famously emerged in May that year that he had given a watch to Mr Nadir bearing the inscription "Don't let the buggers get you down". In 2005 he won an unreserved public apology from The Daily Telegraph after an article smeared him as an under-performing "bedblocker". And last year he was also involved in angry scenes after the general election count at The Festival Hall in Petersfield. In a fiery confrontation, Liberal Democrat candidate Ruth Bright accused him of trying to "bully" her and trying to interrupt her election campaign. The claims were countered by Mr Mates who said a Lib Dem leaflet distributed before the election had made "libellous, damaging and wrong" allegations about his performance record at Westminster. Looking back over the years, he told The Herald: "I have had wonderful support for which I have always been grateful. I have tried my best to return that favour by working as hard as I can for the constituency, but I suppose the most important work I have done has been up in London. "Over the years it has been a complete joy because it is such a lovely constituency. "What I have achieved by waiting until now is an orderly transition and I will be on hand to help the next candidate in the run in to the election." Local district councillor Patrick Burridge (Downland) has paid tribute to Mr Mates, who was returned as MP for East Hampshire for the eighth time in 2005 with 24,273 votes. "I know that Michael Mates will be missed by all the residents of EastHampshire, regardless of their political colours, when he stands down at the end of his elected term. "He has served us unstintingly, in particular the hundreds of people whom he has helped with particular problems down the years. "Michael is an especially conscientious local member of parliament. Not only a busy local MP, his work on Northern Ireland helped the peace process significantly, work which goes quietly on to this day," he added. "A member of parliament with a warm heart, he has also helped raise thousands of pounds for charities, for example, as one half of the Flannegan and Allen tribute act." Mr Burridge added: "What I shall miss most about Michael however, is his presence, a rare quality. He has it in spades. When he walks into a room, the atmosphere buzzes and when he speaks the audience listens. I wish him a very happy and peaceful retirement - all in the fullness of time."