Goodbye to Westminster

Helen Rumbelow, writing for The Times' election log (as they call it), describes the scenes as MPs leave Westminster, some of them for the last time. Not all of them will know tonight that it is for the last time, of course.

Rumbelow writes:

for the ones standing down, today is a day full of sentiment. It felt historic to meet Gillian Shephard, almost in tears as she took her final goodbyes to the place, and Virginia Bottomley in most nostalgic mood. Before I get carried away, Tony Banks, that retiring firebrand Labour MP, was rushing to his car with no regrets. "I don't want to fade away like an old fart," he told me.

Meanwhile, one voluntarily retiring MP seems very happy about his decision. Richard Allan, the Lib Dem MP for Sheffield Hallam, has renamed his blog Political Times as Post Political Times and reports his plans for the future there.