Member of Parliament
Winterton was elected to the House of Commons at the third attempt, winning a by-election in Macclesfield in September 1971. He is considered a right-wing Tory, opposing the reduction of the age of consent for same-sex sexual relations to 16, the ban on fox hunting and supporting Section 28 and the reintroduction of capital punishment. For some years he was a member of the Conservative Monday Club and on 26 January 1981, he was the Guest-of-Honour at the Club's Africa Group Dinner at St Stephen's Club, Westminster, where Harold Soref was in the chair. He is also a signatory to the Freedom Association's Better Off Out campaign, opposing Britain's membership of the European Union. He wears a small badge in the design of the pound sterling symbol to signify his opposition to any plans for the Euro being adopted as Britain's national currency. He has never been promoted to a ministerial or shadow role.
He served as a member of the Social Services Select Committee between 1979 and 1990 and was then chairman of the Health Select Committee (1990–92). Winterton is currently the senior member of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen. He is also currently a member of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons and a vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee. Winterton was one of the few MPs to ask a question at Tony Blair's last Prime Minister's Questions: he demanded a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty to the groans, roars, and chuckles of the House. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2002 for services to Parliament.
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