Napier MP Stuart Nash will stand down from politics at the next election.
It follows a torrid March for the former Police Minister, mired in scandal about improper behaviour as a minister.
Posting on social media on Monday afternoon, Nash said he'd made the decision "after a long family conversation and an eye to the future".
He said his 15 years as an MP had provided him with "the most amazing opportunities to really make a difference" to the country and his Napier electorate, but it was time for someone else with "passion and drive" to take his spot.
"There are many many highs - and a couple of obvious lows - and I have made a number of lifelong friends from both sides of the House as well as up-and-down this wonderful country.
"I have had the privilege of serving in the Ardern Cabinet during the darkest of days, managing crisis after crisis after crisis, while driving forward an ambitious and progressive agenda of continuous economic and social improvement and transformation.
"While the work has been very rewarding, and both intellectually and professionally stimulating, it has also been incredibly taxing on relationships with family and friends. It’s now time to address this balance."
He said it had been "an absolute privilege and a pleasure" representing the people of the Napier electorate in Parliament for nine years.
Nash stated he'll miss advocating for issues "important to good hard-working Kiwis", but said he would continue to serve the region until his departure.
"There is still a lot to do regarding the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle and helping the next Labour candidate retain the seat of Napier," he said.
He closed his post with a quote from US President Theodore Roosevelt, which he said summed up his philosophy on politics.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Nash resigned from the police portfolio in mid-March after he revealed he had spoken to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster about whether he would appeal a case.
Further allegations also emerged which saw him demoted to the bottom of Cabinet rankings while retaining his Economic Development, Fisheries and Forestry portfolios.
One of those was the revelation the Solicitor-General considered prosecuting Nash for contempt following comments he made after the arrest of Eli Epiha, who ultimately pleaded guilty to murdering Police Constable Matthew Hunt.
The third instance was where he contacted a senior official from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in September last year to ask them to look at an immigration case of a health professional in the Napier electorate.
The fourth - which saw him sacked from Cabinet on Tuesday night - regarded an email he sent to donors about Cabinet decisions and his view of them. That move broke Cabinet confidentiality and collective responsibility. Last week, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the final offense was serious enough to have warranted firing without the prior offences.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has previously called for Nash to resign from Parliament immediately.
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