A SUFFOLK MP has told of the “huge honour” after he was voted onto a powerful select committee last night.

David Ruffley, MP for Bury St Edmunds, was elected overwhelmingly by his fellow Conservative MPs in the House of Commons to serve on the Treasury Select Committee.

In the election he beat off competition from MPs from Wolverhampton, Esher and Lincoln for a place on the committee.

His election was confirmed in a House of Commons vote.

Commenting on his election, Mr Ruffley said: “It is a huge honour to be elected by my fellow Conservative Members of Parliament in open competition – in the old days it was done by simple appointment and ‘who you knew’.

“I stood on my record based on three years as Ken Clarke’s Treasury Adviser when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, my challenging questions to Gordon Brown during his spend-thrift days as Chancellor and my service on the front bench as Treasury Whip and Shadow Pensions Minister in the last Parliament.

“This is the most serious select committee in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

“In the next four years, we will be scrutinising the Chancellor’s deficit reduction, tax levels, the radical reform of our broken banking system and how to create conditions for a thriving small business sector.

“I will not be pulling any punches when we have ministers, the Governor of the Bank of England or city big wigs in front of us in our twice-weekly hearings.”

Mr Ruffley comes from a family of public servants and credits his parents with teaching him the virtues that helped him to secure the Bury St Edmunds seat in 1997.

His father worked in local government working for, amongst others, Gipping Rural District Council in Needham Market.

After graduating from Cambridge University, Mr Ruffley practised as a solicitor advising small businesses.

He was later headhunted as a government trouble-shooter before eventually standing as MP, which he believes is the best way to make a difference to society.