David Laws ‘wants to return to frontline politics’

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Liberal Democrat MP David Laws has hinted that he is keen to return to government.

The politician resigned as chief secretary to the Treasury last May after just 16 days in the job.

He was forced to step down after it was revealed he had wrongly paid expenses to his male partner, who was also his landlord.

Mr Laws said he had not disclosed that he and lobbyist James Lundie were in a relationship because they wanted to keep it private.

Speaking to BBC Radio’s Pienaar’s Politics show, he said: “Everybody in politics wants to be in the frontline … Everybody wants to have their hands on the levers. I don’t think I’m exceptional in that regard politically.”

He went on: “But I’m reassured because we’ve got a damn good chief secretary to the Treasury in Danny Alexander.”

He added: “I’ve bumped into Nick [Clegg] in particular on a number of occasions and obviously I’ve talked to him about some of the things that I’ve been associated with in the past, like the schools funding issue … because I was the schools spokesman in the last parliament.

“But I don’t think Danny or George Osborne need anybody in the back seat trying to reach over and grab the steering wheel … When they ask for it [advice], I give it.”

According to recent reports, friends said Mr Laws was unwilling to return to government after the stress of being outed over his expenses claims.

He was also absent from the Liberal Democrats Party conference last month.

Prime minister David Cameron and deputy Nick Clegg are understood to be keen to see him return to the cabinet if he is cleared by a parliamentary investigation.

He is also working on a book detailing the first weeks of the coalition government and how he had to resign.

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