Ruth Kelly has confirmed she will step down as Transport Secretary to spend more time with her family.

The revelation comes as a blow for Gordon Brown who had hoped to end the Labour Party conference on a high note after delivering a rousing speech yesterday.

Ms Kelly told Mr Brown that she would resign from her post at the next Cabinet reshuffle, which is now highly likely to come next week before Parliament comes back from its summer break.

The Transport Secretary, a Roman Catholic mother-of-four, was known to be unhappy about the Embryology Bill, but a wider dissatisfaction may have prompted her move. Her constituency, Bolton West, is one of Labour’s most marginal seats.

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Ruth Kelly's announcement is a massive blow to Gordon Brown because of its timing

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She said she would continue to support the Labour Party in future, and called Mr Brown a “towering figure” in the Labour Party.

The news emerged after Downing Street gave a briefing in the lobby of the Midland Hotel in Manchester at around 3am.

Ms Kelly insisted this morning that the move was not deliberately timed to undermine the Prime Minister, and she had informed him of her desire to leave the government in May. The timing of today’s announcement had come as a “complete surprise”, she told reporters.

She declined to say whether she would be stepping down from Parliament.

“As you can imagine, being a front-line politician bringing up four young children and being a constituency MP has not always been easy,” she said.

“I’ve relied on the support of my family and friends and I now think it’s time to take a step back and repay them for the support that they have given me.”

Mr Brown said that he understood the reasons behind her departure. "She has been an MP for 11 years. All the time that her children were growing up, she was carrying out her job as minister and juggling with work and family life.

"It is a very personal story and I do understand as a father myself that there are difficult decisions we have to take."

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