It means you will end up with the last remaining “cupboard” in Parliament, North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara told guests at a dinner.

The Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons was guest of honour to mark the 76th Charter Dinner of the Rotary Club of Peterborough.

At the packed event at the Holiday Inn, in Thorpe Wood, he told Rotarians, who may think life is one of luxury for politicians living in the most stylish of Westminster offices, that the truth was far removed.

He said: “The Government grabs all the best offices, and the Opposition are left with what’s left. And then there is a pecking order for the most senior opposition figures. In effect, for most MPs it’s a scramble over the remaining broom cupboards: some small, some even smaller.

“The only thing of which you can be certain when you are a new MP is that you will be in the smallest of the cupboards as an office.

“And the last offices get handed out in alphabetical order. If your surname begins with the letter V, then you are also likely to be sharing the last remaining tiny space with an MP whose surname begins with W”.

Mr Vara brought roars of laughter from the audience when he told guests that at a recent fire-safety assessment of his room, his small “office” designed for one MP but being used by two plus an assistant each, has been deemed a fire hazard.