The wife of the speaker of the House of Commons has ruled herself out of the race for a marginal constituency.

Sally Bercow has denied rumours that she is to be included on the Labour Party’s all-female list of prospective parliamentary candidates for Brighton Kemptown.

The staunch Labour supporter is currently being sued for libel by Lord McAlpine.

He is suing Mrs Bercow for wrongly linking him with a child sex abuse allegation in the wake of an inaccurate Newsnight report in November.

Tory MP Simon Kirby snatched the hotly-contested Kemptown seat from Labour at the last general election.

Sally Bercow told The Argus: “I have not applied and am not applying for Brighton Kemptown and have no further comment to make.”