A WORCESTERSHIRE MP has outlined his ambition to become a Government minister should the Conservatives win power at the next general election.

Peter Luff has issued a come-and-get-me plea to party leader David Cameron after saying he had not gone through “all the misery of the last 17 years to miss the chance of the shining uplands of Government”.

Mid-Worcestershire MP Mr Luff also hit out at the expenses scandal saying he was “punished for my openness”. In an interview with in the latest edition of The House Magazine, Mr Luff gave his biggest indication yet that he wants a bigger part to play in running the country should the Conservatives triumph at the polls next spring.

Mr Luff, who is currently chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, said: “I nominated David Cameron for the party leadership, and it’s the best judgment call I have made as an MP.

“I could have easily asked for a job in the shadow team, but I didn’t want to stop chairing the committee. Of course I would be interested in ministerial office but it’s not in my gift.

“If I’m a select committee chairman again then I’d be delighted, but I would like to be a minister.”

Mr Luff said that, while he was content in his current role, he had found the whole experience “very frustrating” at times due to the lack of coverage the committee gets. He said: “It’s only when we attack that we get noticed.”

Despite the fact Mr Luff paid back more than £6,000 as part of the expenses investigation, he said: “I wouldn’t do things much differently. People don’t understand what it takes to live and work in two places. Many of the Kelly recommendations are very good, but I think he’s brought a personal prejudice to his recommendations on employing spouses and produces no evidence to suggest it’s a bad thing.

“Some of my constituents have expressed horror and outrage at the proposals.”

Mr Luff said the recommendation to stop employing partners within five years would probably not affect him because his wife, Julia, was likely to “wind down her work” by then.