VETERAN Swindon Conservative politician Mike Bawden’s leukaemia is in remission.

Former council leader Mr Bawden announced in January that he had been diagnosed with the illness.

The following month he said he wouldn’t seek re-election to the Chiseldon and Lawn ward in the May elections, as his illness meant he could not give his full commitment to the electorate.

Now, with the illness in remission following chemotherapy, he hopes to have an active role in Swindon’s future.

Mr Bawden, 74, who lives in Old Town and is married to Joyce, revealed that at one point late last year he thought he was dying.

“I wasn’t very well in Decem-ber,” he said. “And at Christmas I wasn’t very well.

“I thought I had a bad cold. But I reached the stage where I couldn’t walk more than 30 yards before having a rest.

“We booked for New Year in Cornwall, where I come from. Our bedroom was 30 or 40 yards from the dining room and I had to sit down. My wife said on New Year’s Day that we should go back to Swindon.”

Mr Bawden saw his doctor on a Friday, had a blood test and was at the Great Western Hospital by the following afternoon.

He is full of praise for everybody involved in his diagnosis and treatment.

The latter included six rounds of chemotherapy, the most recent of which was in August.

He said of the treatment: “I probably got away with it quite well. I didn’t appreciate that, depending on what type of problem you’ve got, you have a different treatment.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff for their help and assistance over the last nine or ten months.”

Mr Bawden was 26 when he was first elected to the old Swindon Borough Council in 1967, and he was a councillor almost continually until earlier this year.

The Tory stalwart is one of the few people to have twice been mayor.

Away from politics he worked in recruitment.

He currently has no plans to seek re-election, not least because there will be no suitable vacancies, but he says he is ready for other roles in the town. He plans talks with council leader David Renard and chief executive Gavin Jones.

“As most people realise, the areas I’m particularly interested in are economic development and strategic planning,” he said.

“I’m a person who has been totally supportive of the expansion of Swindon since I first got elected in 1967.”