A Catholic MP has revealed that a month’s retreat helped her in her decision to quit politics.Sarah Teather MP, told the Guardian that she decided to attend a Jesuit retreat while she struggled with her decision whether to continue as a Liberal Democrat MP.
Miss Teather said: “Sometimes you just have to shut up. This politician just needed to shut up and stop talking in order to make a decision.”
Sarah Teather attended a retreat at Loyola Hall, a Jesuit centre just outside of Liverpool.
While she was there she decided she would leave politics, partly because she did not agree with her party’s stance on immigration.
Miss Teather said: “I don’t hate politics and I didn’t make a decision in despair. I made a careful, thought-through choice and I couldn’t get that across. I felt very sad in case I’d in any way added to the disillusion that people felt about politics. I was really troubled by that.”
Miss Teather wants to use her last 18 months in Parliament to highlight issues facing refugees.