Labour MP Tom Harris has said he was not sacked from the government for writing a blog.
In an interview with The House Magazine to be published on Monday he also talked about his Christian faith and his decision to speak out against the prime minister.
Harris, MP for Glasgow South, said he does not know why he lost his job in October 2008.
"You would have to ask Gordon Brown," he told the magazine.
"Some people said my blog got me the sack.
"I think it was something entirely different, but I don’t want to go on the record about that – yet."
He said he "loved" being a minister at the Department for Transport, "the best and most satisfying two years of my entire adult life, professionally anyway".
Harris also said that his decision in June this year to criticise Gordon Brown "was over his leadership of the Labour Party and his performance as prime minister, so it was a public matter".
He added: "However, I wouldn't go public again if I had the chance, and I think I may have made a mistake when I spoke to the media after the PLP meeting.
"I was right to say what I said in the privacy of the meeting, but perhaps I let my ego take control a little bit. I was enjoying the attention a bit too much".
Harris also revealed to The House Magazine that he is "a rubbish Christian".
"In 2001 I affirmed instead of swearing the religious oath, because at that time I really wasn't sure what I believed," he said.
"When I'm rubbish at something I tend to give up on it, but I've tried, certainly in the last few years, to reconnect with that faith."
The next issue of The House Magazine, which is available from Monday, also features an extended policy focus on manufacturing, diaries by Paul Flynn and Baroness Verma and look back at politics in the Noughties.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd