MP fails in Northern Ireland bid

Mr Hunter says he will stand down as MP at the next election.

One of the South's MPs has narrowly failed to win himself a seat and a new career in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Andrew Hunter, MP for Basingstoke, last year announced his resignation from the Conservative Party to stand for Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party in the province.

Under the complicated proportional representation system, at one point it looked like transfers from Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson would see him elected.

But when all votes were counted, the Lagan Valley seat was won by Norah Beare of the Ulster Unionists.

Mr Hunter, first elected to parliament in 1983, will serve as an independent conservative in Basingstoke until the next election, when he says he will retire from Westminster.

A member of the Orange Order, Mr Hunter was one of the few Conservatives who voted against the Good Friday Agreement.