Teddington councillor Stephen Knight attended his last Mayor’s Question Time on Wednesday as he withdrew from May’s London Assembly elections.
Richmond’s former Lib Dem leader was listed as his party’s fifth choice on its candidate list in September 2015.
Cllr Knight said it was clear the party members wanted a change of representation and as far as he was concerned it made sense to withdraw rather than campaign in an election he had very little chance of winning.
He said he would continue to campaign around the same issues, including the living wage and London’s air quality, but in the short term would be spending time with his young family.
Cllr Knight’s partner, Jennifer Churchill, defected from the Lib Dems to Labour in 2015, but Cllr Knight would not be drawn on whether he intended to do the same.
He said: “I am still a Lib Dem councillor and until the election I will still be a Lib Dem assembly member.
“I have always said after the election I will consider my future but I am not planning to make any decisions like that in the short term.”
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