After his announcement yesterday that he will be standing down from the shadow cabinet, Total Politics speaks to Bob Ainsworth. He speaks about Liam Fox's cuts, life in opposition and how he isn’t passed it, yet.

You were quite strongly criticised in the press are you quite glad you're out of that spotlight right now?

I am not going to stand for the shadow cabinet. I have taken my time to take this decision. I didn't want to take it in the immediate afterglow of the election. I am going to return to the backbenches so that I can be freer about the type of issues I want to raise. But I also want to carry on playing a part in defence issues.

What will you be raising?

I want to raise a lot of local issues. I want the freedom. After 15 years of being on the front bench (I did 13 years in government and two years before in the Whips' offices), I want the freedom of the backbenches to raise many issues that have come up over the years.

But you'll still be standing as an MP in 2015?

I'm not planning on standing down as an MP. From a relatively poor family, the city gave me everything my education came from the library service and my ability to get on in the world came through the trade unions and local government. I ought to spend more time paying the city back with representation at every level. I'm only 58. I don't think I'm passed it yet. I'm not sure the wife wants me back full time.

Is it a hard transition from being in the cabinet in power to being in opposition?

It's a little bit strange but I wouldn't overplay it.

Do you have a lot more time now?

By comparison with when I was secretary of defence I have a lot more free time. It's a very challenging job and if you don't throw yourself in to it body and soul then you are not really doing it justice. But of course I was always busy and it takes over your life. When you come out of it is a bit of a shock.

What are the most difficult things about now being in opposition?

You can't take decisions, you can only criticise or support. Which is an important part of the democratic process but nonetheless you can't take the decisions yourself. It is enormously enjoyable and as a preference you want to do that. Government beats opposition every time.

What do you make of Liam Fox's speech this morning? I think he didn't really explain where the cuts were coming from.

He didn't and that was deliberate. It's unfortunate. What he's doing is he is softening us up for hard decisions. We all have to make hard decisions. But the sorts of things he said when he was in opposition has meant that he's made it a lot harder on himself. He criticised us and said we were fighting on a peacetime budget, that the army was too small and that the navy was decimated. He deliberately gave the impression that a Conservative government would spend more and have more. Now he is going to do exactly the opposite. He has to expect to be reminded of what he was saying only a few months ago.

Where are his cuts going to come from? Especially as they've got to find the money for trident.

The last thing we need is a strategic defence review that is completely dominated by the Treasury. Will it be Liam that is taking the decisions or will it be George Osborne that is making the decisions? I fear that Osborne has a headlock on him.

He spoke that it was Labour's legacy that created these cuts. Has it?

He's bound to say that because he's desperately trying to cover the fact that he is u-turning. All of these attempts to suggest that we were being profligates came to nothing. He cancelled not a single decision that we had taken.

Image credit: Getty images