Childhood memories of North Yorkshire MPs have been laid bare after they swapped the ballot box for a paint box.

It remains to be seen what armchair psychologists read into Labour MP John Grogan's fuzzy, nondescript landscape or Tory MP John Greenway's colourful train travelling to the left.

The paintings by the two MPs, along with those of 270 others, have been entered into an art contest designed to encourage MPs to visit their local nurseries and playgroups.

John Grogan, the MP for Selby, put paint to canvas when he dropped in at Elvington Playgroup.

After spending 30 minutes producing an abstract landscape, an apologetic Mr Grogan explained his effort by saying: "Put it this way: I was consistently 30th out of 30 in art at school. I lacked talent in that particular area.

"I don't blame you if you can't work out what it is - it's the sea at Whitby, in the style of French Impressionists. I chose that scene because it evoked strong childhood memories."

Meanwhile, self-confessed former train spotter John Greenway, the MP for Ryedale, painted a colourful steam train when he visited a pre-school playgroup at Kirkbymoorside.

He said: "I used to go train spotting, a long time ago. I love trains. When I see the North York Moors railway, or any steam train, it brings back memories of my childhood. You went everywhere on the train."

He denied that anything political could be read into the fact that his steam train was travelling left, saying: "All trains go left depending on which side you view them from. The only thing you can read into my painting is that the train is blue."

The entries will be whittled down to a shortlist of three finalists, who will battle it out in a "paint-off" at the Commons on May 12.

Margaret Lochrie, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, which organised the competition, said: "The pictures show that MPs, no matter how old they are, are never too old to play."

Other entrants include Tory leader William Hague, who drew a fierce red spider picture and another of a rainbow over a pithead, and former Social Security minister Harriet Harman, who painted her family.

York MP Hugh Bayley's office said he had not entered the competition.

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