TORY MP Sir Nicholas Winterton was 'willing to accept' he slapped a female Labour colleague on the bottom in the Commons tea room.

Sir Nicholas Winterton said that smacking MP Natascha Engel's bottom was 'instinctive, natural behaviour' defending his actions as 'camaraderie'.

The incident was revealed on the micro-blogging website Twitter by Miss Engel's Labour colleague MP Kerry McCarthy.

The message from the Bristol East MP said: "A knight of the realm no less - slapped a shocked female Labour MP firmly on the bottom in full view of other members."

Sir Nicholas, MP for Macclesfield, said: "We joke and have fun in the tea room and we don't expect Soviet spies, so to speak, to be reporting on everything that happens."

"I don't even remember it happening but I am willing to accept that it did. It was nothing more than camaraderie between colleagues."

Natural behaviour 

When asked if it was appropriate behaviour with a female colleague, he said: "I'm prepared to accept that times change but it was instinctive, natural behaviour.

"Natasha and I are friends as colleagues, and it's a complete non-event. She's an extremely good MP. I'm amused that the media are so short of news they make this into a story. It's gutter press."

Sir Nicholas, who is married to fellow Tory MP Lady Ann Winterton, added he did not follow blogs or Twitter.

He added: "My wife was tickled pink that it could be made into such a big story. It just shows how far some members of the house have stooped."

Sir Nicholas and wife Lady Ann, MP for neighbouring Congleton, have both announced they will step down at the next general election.

They faced public criticism last year, even before the expenses scandal, after it emerged they had claimed more that £165,000 of taxpayers' money for a Westminster flat on which they had already paid off the mortgage.

The couple lodged claims after placing the flat - valued at £700,000 - in a family trust for their children in 2002 and then renting it back.

They carried on claiming even after a change in Commons rules in 2006 which banned MPs from claiming rent on properties owned by their families.

Sir Nicholas initially said he was entitled to claim the expenses and later added that he had 'acted honourably'.