After a lot of feedback to my piece on retiring MPs, we have decided to release some more quotes from the interview with Sir Nicholas Winterton.

You get free tickets to quite a lot of things because you are a member of Parliament. And you are always expected to have a go on a raffle or tombola. All the summer fairs, where you are expected to spend money. I reckon I’ve probably spend £3,000 a year on tickets, raffle tickets and you know. It is like many members of Parliament, not without justification, to claim for instance for the wreath that they lay. I have never done so myself and I wouldn’t because I am a member of the Royal British Legion. But all these things have to be taken into account. You can’t claim tax on any of that. You actually have a lot more expenditure than people realise.

Unlike many Parliaments where people are allowed an entertainment allowance, if you have people come who you have met abroad, you will have to pay for that out of your taxed income. There is only one way you can get around that here. You can speak to the CPA or the IPU and say: “I am entertaining a member of Parliament for whatever. Would you be prepared to meet the cost of this?” In some cases the IPU or the CPA will do that. But that always has to be requested or asked for. It is not something you can do on the spur of the moment.

On PMQs: I mean Gordon Brown is prime minister. He is prime minister of this country. He is the leader of this country. He shouldn’t seek to score cheap party political points at the expense of another colleague of the House and look for approval to one of his own secretary of state. I am sorry that is not how I view a good party leader, a good prime minister. I would say the same thing, I have to say, about my own party leader. He does it rather less than Gordon Brown. But to me, people ought to rise above party political points at the dispatch box at prime minister’s questions. If they think it actually endears itself to the people out there it doesn’t. It’s childish.

I never thought that I would ever say to myself I am looking forward to retiring, I am looking forward to seeing the back of this place. Because it has changed so fast, so badly and so much. The chamber — where members are almost completely irrelevant. Question Time instead of soliciting information that is important to you, virtually every question is seeking to score political points rather than seeking information. I think it is a waste of time. The power of the parties. The power of the executive. The disinterest that people have in the chamber unless they are going into speak. They are not debates any longer here. They are set piece speeches that people make to perhaps two other members in the chamber. Not any longer are people swayed by the speeches. It is depressing.

On voter turnout: The other thing is the parties themselves are partially to blame. They are seeking to take increasing control over who comes into Parliament as a Tory, in my case, as a Conservative and Unionist member of Parliament. The central office establishment of the party are seeking to dictate those who are to be considered by the constituencies where a vacancy occurs and they then expect you to do precisely as they want you to do. That to my mind is taking away from a member of Parliament’s integrity, independence, ability to exercise their own knowledge and experience. And that’s one of the reasons why people out there say: “Why the hell should I vote? There is no point. Whoever I vote for it won’t make the slightest difference.” And in a way, they are right.

I have never been a minister in 39 years. I have never sought openly to be a minister. Would I have liked to be a minister in two or three departments? The answer is yes. But I never did anything to try and ensure that I became a minister.

Obviously not that it had anything to do with us stepping down, but I think the way that members of Parliament have been treated because of press revelations in the last two years into expenses and allowances has been grotesquely unfair and totally, in some cases, misrepresented by some papers. By some of the tabloids, which you would expect, but one or two of the broadsheets — particularly one which I won’t name has lost a lot of readership as a result of what they’re doing — I think has been most unfair on Parliament and unnecessarily undermined Parliament which is an institution which needs to be supported and respected.

In respect of amusing stories, it is difficult to recall them because in a way, politics is a very serious profession or pastime or business. While there have been amusing occasions. Certainly once, when I was on a visit, again overseas, I have to say it was a particular place on the edge of the Caribbean. And somebody mixed me a Mickey Finn. I was sure that one of my legs was longer than the other. Particularly when you are walking on a surface that isn’t entirely even. But anyway, that was quite a... I won’t go into detail because that will certainly be pickled up by the press. ‘Members on a debauchery holiday.’

And the final quote is a particular favourite... Wonder if Sir Nicholas will be settling down to talk about "expenses and allowances" this evening?

I am very team-orientated — although an individual — very team-orientated. Occasionally on a Thursday night, later tonight probably, around 6.30 a group of us will meet in the tearoom to have a light snack and we will chat about the week, the week to follow, the current political stories and mull over expenses and allowances and everything that’s happening in that direction.