BREAKING NEWS: Dutch Labour Party leader, Wouter Bos, is resigning and leaving politics. He says he will not be leading Labour into elections scheduled for 9 June and will no longer be available for any political posts, including being an MP. He has led Labour since 2002.

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen is widely seen as the most likely candidate to replace Mr Bos as Labour leader.

On Friday, Mr Bos explained that he had been thinking about giving up politics since 2007. He has been holding talks with Mr Cohen about who should succeed him as Labour leader.

Mr Cohen will officially put himself forward as a candidate during a press conference later today. He has already garnered the support in his leadership bid from the leader of the parliamentary Labour faction, Mariëtte Hamer. She says the Amsterdam mayor is best equipped to build on Labour’s improving position in the polls.

Wouter Bos’ resignation has come as a major surprise. After Labour’s better than expected showing in last week’s local elections, it was generally thought that he would carry on to lead the party into the June elections. Mr Bos himself actually said as much last week.

June’s early poll was forced after the government fell because of disagreement over the extension of the Dutch ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The Christian Democrats wanted to extend the Dutch military presence, but Mr Bos’ Labour Party insisted on keeping to a pledge to withdraw the forces later this year.

Mr Bos was deputy prime minister in the ruling coalition and the Afghanistan row was widely seen as a clash between him and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.