Workington’s MP has clarified he does not have his eyes on a ministerial job after hinting at his potential during his maiden speech.

Mark Jenkinson gave the speech on Thursday evening in Parliament.

He said: “While I never thought, growing up, that I might grace these green benches, others seemed to.

“One of my secondary school science teachers, Mr Harris, once recognised in my school report – if the Prime Minister is listening – my ministerial potential.

“He suggested agriculture, but I am not fussy.”

But speaking to the News & Star, he clarified the comment was “just for a bit of humour".

He said: “I worked on farms when I was younger and then I went to Newton Rigg college on a hill farming course, before I became an apprentice at British Steel.

“I wanted to be a farmer and for whatever reason Mr Harris made that comment in my school report, I’m sure my mum still has it somewhere.

“I imagine I might have been a little forthright at the time.

“But I haven’t got my eyes on the job, it was just for a bit of humour.”

Mr Jenkinson also spoke in Cumbrian dialect during his maiden speech and referred to himself as a “Wukkington lad”.

In Parliament he said: “Not having spent a huge amount of time outside Cumbria, I wondered how I might identify fellow Cumbrians in the big city.

“Folklore has it that I should greet those about whom I have a suspicion they may be Cumbrian in my native dialect with, ‘'as thou e’er sin cuddy lowp a five barred yat?’, in the hope of eliciting the answer, ‘Aye, it mun a bin a gay lish cuddy else a varra la’al yat.’

“At the risk of destroying the ancient practice of identifying Cumbrians in exile, for those not lucky enough to hail from God’s own county of Cumbria, that is dialect for, ‘Have you ever seen a donkey jumped a five barred gate?’, and the response, ‘Yes, it must have been a very fit donkey or a very small gate'.

“Alongside the promises I made to my constituents, I will take any attempt that I can to have Hansard record Cumbrian dialect for posterity.”

Mr Jenkinson also spoke of his constituency’s proud industrial history with thriving firms such as Iggesund and Amcor.