UPDATE: Here's Sir Nicholas's letter to David Cameron...
Dear David,
Ann and I have been giving considerable thought in recent months to our future plans. While I remain tremendously involved both in the House of Commons and in my Macclesfield Constituency (and Ann is also much involved too) I am aware that we cannot maintain the hectic pace at which we have lived for nearly four decades and we would like a steadier lifestyle which would enable us to see more of our family, including eight grandchildren, not least at weekends.
Also with all the changes taking place in Parliament and in local government we feel that it is an appropriate time to announce that we do not intend to stand as candidates at the next general election and we will be notifying our Association Chairmen accordingly. However, I would ask that you do not make any public announcement about our decision until we have done this.
Parliament and my constituency have been my life for almost 38 years (and politics in general for almost 50 years) and in Ann's case for more than 26 years, but when you feel as we do that maybe the years are taking their toll and perhaps we can no longer represent Macclesfield and Congleton with the some level of energy and enthusiasm as in the past, we have reached the conclusion that we should pass the baton to a younger person because both Congleton and Macclesfield deserve the very best.
I hope that during the remainder of this Parliament I can help others in returning to the House of Commons itself some authority, independence and integrity over the executive of the day because the House is currently virtually impotent. Our support for the Conservative and Unionist Party is total and we will continue to do all we can to ensure a great victory at the next General Election whenever it comes.
We wish you every success.
Yours ever
Nicholas
Madame Guillotine has been busy this weekend.
ReplyDeleteGood riddance methinks...
ReplyDeleteGood Riddance!
ReplyDeleteMay I be the first to say...good riddance to bad rubbish.
ReplyDeleteTory Gain!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness this pair of grasping troughers are at last disappearing. They have done or party no credit fathering their nest(s) and their children's nests.
Lots more like this please!
Shame that they'll get such generous pensions etc. though.
Good – I can now vote Conservative at the general election without having to move house!
ReplyDeleteAnd still Labour MPs are holding on by their fingernails to retain their seats. No sackings from Gordon yet either.
ReplyDeleteI think DC is taking this opportunity to get rid of the `old farts` brigade....attaboy..
ReplyDeleteI wonder will Cameron manage to purge any MP's who he dosent actually want rid of anyway?
ReplyDeleteOld guard anti-EUers....though such "old school" Tories being supporters of Better Off Out does tend to scare some people off.
ReplyDelete@Dr Snuggles
ReplyDeleteSorry, you were a minute to slow.
63 years "service" between them, thats a serious amount of troughing.
ReplyDeleteStill,makes a refreshing change from stepping down due to ill health , blah blah blah.
Trouble is that it now appears that we had the greatest sinners as the LibDems and Labour are mostly brazening it out.
ReplyDeleteTwo super troughers, good riddance to a pair of greedy bastards!
ReplyDeleteThe two of them have no shame whatsoever, even after they were criticised for their expenses last year, well before the current Telegraph revelations. More time to spend with their families indeed - even saying that is disrespectful as it certainly didn't bother them for the last 40 years or so.
A sad day to lose the Winterons.
ReplyDeleteLoyal, supportive MP's.
Never in it for self gain.
A sad day indeed
You gonna put your name forward for any of them, Iain?
ReplyDelete2 plum Tory seats.There will be massive interest in them.
ReplyDeleteIve heard a certain well known Tory blogger say before that he wont go for a seat unless he would be willing to live there so it prob depends on whether said blogger fancies sunny cheshire!
I'll really miss them.
ReplyDeleteThey provided some wonderful opportunities for Photoshopping
Glad the Wintertons are going.
ReplyDeleteNext up when is that Nadine Dorries off?
"Go back to your constituences and prepare for redundancy"
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Ann Winterton was one of the very few MPs to take on the government on the issue of Snatch Land Rovers and other unsuitable armoured vehicles. She actually got her head round this subject, and has persistently challenged ministers over the errors in procurement which have led to many deaths in our army. Whatever her faults, she was right on this one, and more than pulled her weight, I only wish the Opposition front bench had been half as effective.
ReplyDeleteRejoice! Rejoice! At last I can vote Conservative again after 17 long years. Ann Winterton's unfunny jokes, told in public on more than one occasion, showed an unbelievable lack of political judgement. The revelations about claiming rent to be paid to a family trust for a London apartment which they already owned did not go down at all well in this part of Cheshire. My own particular parting of the ways came around 1993/4 when AW was quoted in the local rag about divorce. She was recorded as saying that divorce should be made as expensive and as difficult as possible in order to keep the divorce rate down! As I was going through a really stressful time with my divorce, this was not what I wanted to hear. It had the same intellectual depth as suggesting that hospitals cut back on anaesthetic during surgery in order to keep waiting lists down.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. Jumping before being pushed, I'd say. This pair (and their kith and kin) have raked it in over the years - in his case for '38 years' and her case for 'more than 26 years'.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe this is the beginning of the clearances. Plenty more of these bastards to cast out yet, though. I hope all of them are now casting fearful glances over their shoulders. It's high time.
I'm a little confused...
ReplyDeleteSir Nicolas Winterton was the second cheapest Tory MP and the 7th cheapest in the country... and his wife was the 29th cheapest conservative MP. Yet from some people's comment, you'd have thought they were the worst.
(Source: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/05/the-thirty-cheapest-conservative-mps.html)
Good! Not sorry to see the back of them.
ReplyDeleteThe more this goes on, the more likely that in the next Parliament, the Tory party will look very, very different.
I hope it gets credit for clearing out the troughers rather than simply attracting a label as being the worst offending party.
Thank you Nicholas. Close the door on your way out. Oh, and I wouldn't bother getting a robes quote from Ede & Ravenscroft.
ReplyDeleteNot at all upset to see them go, they've been sponging for years.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, that's a seriously classy resignation statement and it's probably worthwhile to wish them all the best.
It's no loss to anyone. Tories, if they have any brains whatsoever, will be celebrating the departure of these two creeps. Mind you, for a party that claims not to tolerate racism, it took an awful long time for them to get rid of Ann Winterton, didn't it?
ReplyDeleteNot that this changes my opinion that David Cameron's handling of this issue is a disgrace. I wonder why none of Call Me Dave's friends have been asked to leave at the next general election following the discovery of their troughing. Looks like, as ever with the Tory Party, it's a case of who you know, not what you know. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
In a letter to David Cameron, the Tory leader, the couple said that they could no longer "maintain the hectic pace" of political life and wanted to step down in order to spend more time with their family.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing Richard Littlejohn out of a job.
"rent to be paid to a family trust for a London apartment which they already owned": make up your mind; did it belong to the trust or to them?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's a good reminder that insisting that MPs rent instead of buy doesn't avert all difficulties.
Anon 5:15pm - This is not about being the 'cheapest' MP - it is what they took the country for in charging us on a home on which the mortgage had already been paid off. What brings down their costs is the fact that they underpay their staff so they can boast about being the cheapest MP. Do, wake up. An MP who skimps on staff and pays them badly is NOT a good MP.
ReplyDeletewhat the hell is Gordon Brown doing? Cameron is wiping the floor whilst the Labour loons just sit there doing nothing. I'm glad this has happened, but I want to see Labour heads roll, and lots of them
ReplyDeleteThis news is particularly welcome as this pair of troughing piggies should have gone to the abattoir a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteAlmost, but not quite, as bad as the Conway clan and their antics.
Pork farms anyone?
Oink, oink.
"A sad loss for social conservatism."
ReplyDeleteMr & Mrs Caucescau have finally heard the crowd from the balcony......
ReplyDeleteIain, Is Ann Winterton a lady in her own right? If she comes by her title only by marriage, it is "Sir Nicholas and Lady Winterton."
ReplyDeleteAre these two thieves going to pay back the monies they have stolen form the Taxpayers. And what about the Zanu-Labours money grabbing Mr and Mrs teams the vile Keens and the equality vile Balls.
ReplyDeleteI hope all the parasites that are stepping down don’t get any resettlement money when they leve Westminster, have they not had enough money form the Taxpayer!
Ulster Unionist & Conservative.
Ulster Till I Die.
Lady Ann Winterton is NOT the daughter of an Earl, merely married to a Knight of the Realm, and should be addressed as Lady Winterton.
ReplyDeleteVENGEANCE IS MINE sayest a disenchanted voter, now call in the Fraud Squad.
ReplyDeleteCheshire Voter said...
ReplyDeleteLady Ann Winterton is NOT the daughter of an Earl, merely married to a Knight of the Realm, and should be addressed as Lady Winterton.
He and she should be addressed in prison.
Well there goes one theory out the window.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that "Verity" was Ann Winterton.
RE previous posting TYPO error. Should be Cheshire not Chesire, due to a garden full of people drinking CAVA as we cannot afford Champagne as all our money has been spent on supporting two of the greediest people in the HOUSE OF SHAME.
ReplyDeleteYes, both have made mistakes but let us not forget that he fought for his country (in the second world war,) which is more I dare say than any of the commentators on this blog.
ReplyDeleteAs I believe, on occasions like this, if you cannot say anything good about someone, say nothing.
I wish Sir Nicholas and Lady Winterton a happy retirement.
Two jolly safe seats for you to consider Iain.
No, he didn't, Strapworld. He did his national service AFTER WW2.
ReplyDeleteThough I am not a tory, I hope one of these safe seats is offered to you, Iain, so that you can be in the House and continue to run this most interesting and useful blog instead of having to spend every spare minute fighting to hang onto a marginal.
ReplyDeleteAs I know both of the Wintertons as a former Congleton Councillor, I for one would never criticise the very good work they have both done for Macclesfield and Congleton. Both of them always fought tooth and nail for anyone who took the time to contact them. No excuse for extensive troughing though, but still I wish them well.
ReplyDeleteLets just remember Ann Winterton has been asking some very good knowledgeable and pertinent questions about the equipment used by our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteNot least she has been asking the right questions about the vulnerability of our patrol vehicles to bombs. The MoD have been covering it all up
'Reapers' rants my be soundly based, quite thoroughly thought through pieces of logic worth of Bertrand Russell - but to me he sounds like a pillock.
RE Strapworld! Work out his age as opposed to the dates of the Second World War. Was he like an African Boy Soldier carrying a gun as a teenager. If he did serve his National Service he was probably a WOSBi, wasting taxpayers money again because National Service Second LTs were considered a joke by the Regular Army troopers, here today, gone tomorrow, and twitchiing at the sound of rifle fire
ReplyDeleteBlogger ranger1640 said...
ReplyDelete@ Cheshire Voter said...
"Lady Ann Winterton...should be addressed as Lady Winterton."
Miss Piggy would be more appropriate.
Can't fault their timing. Wintertons are leaving while they are still winning. They have seen the money tap being turned off - er, I mean, the writing on the wall.
ReplyDeleteAh - the Wintertons.
ReplyDeleteNo more to be said, really.
Vienna Woods - I think you have their staff to thank for that.
ReplyDeleteRe Rob's Uncle,s Post It would be delightful if Iain put himself up as a candidate for a safe seat about to be vacated.in Cheshire but unless he is selling up in Surrey or Berkshire
ReplyDeleteect, ect,he will not be able to afford to buy a suitable property in Cheshire, particularly now the gravy train has hit the buffers.If he does relocate his family and declares it as his main home in the area covering
his chosen constituency my friend has just E mailed me to offer him a room in his ex Council flat in Hackney near to Ms Abbott for a modest rent.Cheshire is very expensive only Sandbanks and Edinburgh is on a par.
Departing slightly from the thread I am watching Iain on Sky News Paper Review, he is coming over well, pity he is not wearing a tie to match his moleskin jacket. Appearance can be deceptive I expected that the comedian in funny shirt would be very left wing but came across as being quite well balanced in his comments. Is tie-less now made the rule as Iain's Leader seems to forget his on many appearances.
ReplyDeleteFreeloaders and bluffers. I saw his lordship at the Commons once and he is a walking advert for old style fakery.
ReplyDeleteGood news for the Tories
So these two thieves just get to walk away with their loot do they?
ReplyDeleteAny Mouse
What on earth is strapworld on about?
ReplyDeleteWinterton was hardly born at the time of the Second World War! You've got him mixed up with a real hero of a similar name who helped the Jews in Germany.
Get your facts right before blogging!!!
What on earth is strapworld on about?
ReplyDeleteWinterton was hardly born at the time of the Second World War! You've got him mixed up with a real hero of a similar name who helped the Jews in Germany.
Get your facts right before blogging!!!