The Republican Party in the US was stunned last night when its most senior politician, Mr Newt Gingrich (55), told his colleagues that he would not seek re-election as Speaker in the next Congress and would also resign his seat.
In a statement later, he said it was a "difficult personal decision" but it was "time for me to move for ward". He believed he would still have a "significant role to play for our country and our party".
The White House in a brief statement paid tribute to Mr Gingrich's work as Speaker. "Despite our profound differences, we appreciated those times when we were able to work together in the national interest," the statement said.
The dramatic move followed a day in which one of Mr Gingrich's closest political allies, Mr Bob Livingston, had announced that he was challenging Mr Gingrich for the post of Speaker which ranks after president and vice-president in the political hierarchy.
Mr Gingrich's spokesperson issued a statement soon afterwards saying he was "deeply saddened" by Mr Livingston's action.
Mr Gingrich now becomes the most high-profile casualty of the mid-term elections this week in which the Republicans lost seats which they were expected to win. Mr Gingrich himself had predicted that they could win up to 40 seats but instead they saw their 22-seat majority in the House of Representatives cut in half.
Mr Gingrich, who paid a weeklong visit to Ireland last August, was stunned by the result and blamed the media's concentration on the Monica Lewinsky scandal as this had distracted the Republicans from projecting their own political agenda.
It is ironic that it is Mr Gingrich and not President Clinton who is the major political casualty in the fall-out from the Lewinsky affair.
Mr Gingrich spent the last two days telephoning his Republican colleagues from his home in Atlanta, Georgia, trying to bolster support for his re-election as Speaker when the new Congress meets next January, but with the reduced Republican majority, he could not afford any defections in the ranks.
There were reports that perhaps as many as 30 Republican members were refusing to support Mr Gingrich for Speaker. It was possible he could have won the party nomination when the Republican caucus meets on November 18th but if he could not rely on the support of virtually all the party members in the election in the House, there would have been a stalemate.
There could even have been a risk that the Democratic leader, Mr Dick Gephardt, could have been elected Speaker by default if Mr Gingrich failed to secure the necessary majority.
Mr Gingrich did have presidential ambitions for the election in 2000, but Democrats have successfully portrayed him as an unfeeling, right-wing figure and his ratings have remained low.
His high point came in the 1994 mid-term election when he was the inspiring leader for a Republican landslide which captured both houses of Congress and installed him as the powerful Speaker. He pledged to implement the party's "Contract with America" cutting back on federal government, cutting taxes and removing obstacles to a market economy.
There are also rumblings against the Senate leadership team headed by Mr Trent Lott. Mr Gingrich's decision to step down may encourage a strong challenge to Mr Lott who is also being blamed for the Republicans' poor showing in the election.