British Jews are set to lose one of their strongest supporters in the House of Commons with the decision by Sir Eric Pickles to quit as an MP.
The Conservative former cabinet minister announced yesterday that he will not defend his Brentwood and Ongar seat at the general election in June.
He has been MP for the Essex constituency since 1992.
In a tweet, he wrote: "Looking forward to #GE2017 as a canvasser, not a candidate. Thank you Brentwood and Ongar for your support and friendship over 25 years".
The 65-year-old Yorkshireman said he was going to "miss it dreadfully" but had decided it was time to step down after serving for 25 years.
In a letter sent to his local Conservative association, Sir Eric wrote that after "much heart searching" he had concluded it was the "right time for Brentwood and Ongar to have a new representative in Westminster".
Sir Eric served as chairman of the Conservative Party from January 2009 to May 2010, when he was made Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the coalition government led by David Cameron.
On leaving that post in 2015, he was appointed Mr Cameron's special envoy on post-Holocaust issues in 2015, a role he said he would be continuing after ceasing to be an MP.
A long-standing supporter of Israel, he has been parliamentary chair of Conservative Friends of Israel for the past two years.
Sir Eric has been a familier figure at communal events and has made numerous visits to Israel, most recently in February as leader of a CFI delegation. During the trip he was honoured in a ceremony at the JNF UK Lord Sacks Forest near Jerusalem.
As Communities Secretary he encouraged Jews, Muslims and other religious minorities to work more closely together.
In an interview with the JC two years ago, he said: "What I was interested in was if there were initiatives by groups - Jewish, Muslim, Christian - that went beyond their immediate community. I was always very keen to see different groups coming together to do things."
He has been a keen supporter of communal initiatives such as Mitzvah Day.
He told the JC: "I just loved that. It was typical of the Jewish community. The real Jewish community is one that doesn't just look within, it wants to do something with the wider community."
In his work with local authorities, Sir Eric repeatedly challenged councils that he felt were doing too little to remove racist graffiti or oppose racism. He was also one of the first officials to argue against the flying of Palestinian flags over British town halls during last summer's Gaza conflict.
His affection for Israel, stemmed, he said, from its "free speech, independent judiciary, functioning democracy".A long-standing supporter of Holocaust education groups, Sir Eric's special responsibility as the Prime Minister's envoy on Shoah issues has been a source of particular pride.
He was determined to tackle what he saw as a lack of knowledge about the genocide.
"The deniers we'll never touch. It's the people in the middle, those who have never really thought about it, they are the ones you want to get," he told the JC.
Sir Eric's conversations with survivors convinced him that recording their testimony, and encouraging their children and grandchildren to take on the responsibility of telling their stories in years to come, was the best way forward.
Lord Polak, CFI honorary president, and James Gurd, CFI executive director, paid tribute to Sir Eric, declaring the community had "no greater friend".
They said: "Sir Eric's long and distinguished political career speaks for itself. From a young councillor in Bradford and National Young Conservative chairman to chairman of the Conservative Party and Cabinet Minister, Sir Eric has been at the forefront of British politics for a remarkable four decades.
