Margaret Beckett will retire at next election after 40 years as MP for Derby South

Britain's longest serving female MP was first elected to the Commons in 1974 and became the first woman to lead the Labour party in 1994

Margaret Beckett, Britain's first female foreign secretary and the first woman to lead the Labour party, is to retire at the next election after nearly four decades as MP for Derby South.

The 79-year-old, who is also Britain's longest serving female MP, was first elected to the House of Commons to represent Lincoln in 1974 when just 27 MPs were women. There are now 220.