Nearly five months after being kicked out of the Conservative caucus over a sexting scandal, MP Tony Clement’s confirming he’s not running in the October general election.

(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

”This was actually not a difficult decision, and it is also the right one,” wrote Clement in a statement.

”I am very content with it, as is my family.  It’s time to move on.”

The Parry Sound-Muskoka MP went on to say his personal life ”is back on track” following the personal crisis he created.

Clement was removed from the Tory caucus last November, shortly after revealing he had shared sexually explicit images and video with a number of women.

He also alleged someone had tried to bribe one women to disclose intimate and personal information and that he’d been targeted for extortion to keep the images from being released.

Clement’s political career began in Ontario in 1995 when he held a number of cabinet positions under then premier Mike Harris.

When the PC government was defeated in 2003, Clement ran for the federal leadership the following year and finished third behind Stephen Harper.

He ran for the party leadership again in 2016, but dropped out after three months.