Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly (photo) is to quit British Prime minister Gordon Brown?s Labour government because she wants to spend more time with her family, one of her officials said yesterday.

?She indicated ... to the Prime minister that at the next reshuffle he carried out, she would stand down,? Kelly?s special adviser told Reuters.

Media reports said the decision by Kelly, who is a devout Catholic and mother to four young children, did not appear to have anything to do with calls for Brown himself to quit over Labour?s poor opinion poll ratings less than two years before a parliamentary election.

Kelly had been an ally of the Prime minister but the timing of her departure could overshadow his latest efforts to rally the ruling party behind him.

The adviser said Kelly, who has drawn criticism from some quarters for her links to the Catholic group Opus Dei which features in Dan Brown?s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, would remain in her post for the time being.