Gordon Brown speaks of the political vision of his father

On Monday at the Old Kirk in Kircaldy Gordon Brown announced his retirement from the House of Commons.

As and from May he will no longer be MP for the constituency of Kircaldy and Cowdenbeath.

"I still hold the belief in something bigger than ourselves. I still hold to a belief in the moral purpose of public service, something I learned from my father and which I hope to inspire in my children.

"Sometimes politics is seen at best as a branch of the entertainment industry. There are times when political parties seem not to be agents of change but brands to be marketed to people, who are seen as consumers, when they are really citizens with responsibilities.

"Politics, my father believed, was about public service. It was a vocation founded on a great sense of duty, it was built on a commitment to justice, it was driven forward by a missionary zeal for progress and change. This is politics at its best and when it works people are better off.

"Today I will have my say, tomorrow the newspapers will have their say, and then history will have its say.

Gordon Brown refuses to take his prime ministerial pension.