British defense secretary plans political retirement

Defense Secretary John Nott announced he will retire from politics within the next 18 months, stunning British politicians with the surprise decision.

In the announcement released by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's office, Mr. Nott said he had decided not to run in the next parliamentary general election, to be held no later than May 1984. The defense secretary explained that when he entered politics in 1966 he planned to stay no more than 15 years to give him time for another career afterward. Banking was his field before he entered Parliament.