Tony Banks discusses his job description

In a Commons debate on sport, Mr Banks said that his position had plenty of influence but not much real power.

"I'm not really in a position to take the sort of executive action that Members on all sides are continually demanding that I should, because I simply do not have the power," he told the House.

"Sport politics presents the sort of byzantine complexity that I believe would have made Machiavelli prefer to take up macrame. I am the political equivalent of a tea boy. That's effectively what I am. It's an honourable task but it is not an over-powerful situation.

"It's a job that's heavy on influence but light on executive authority," he said.

"Counting out the money"

Mr Banks said he thought the UK should devote more resources to sport, describing it as "one of the finest investments we can make, because it is investment in youth, fitness, health, education and achievement."

He said he saw one important aspect of his job as winning more resources for sport, but that the chancellor was "notoriously tight with national resources".

Tony Banks on the Chancellor's luck with the lottery

To laughter, Mr Banks painted a picture of Chancellor Gordon Brown sitting in the Treasury at night "counting the money himself personally".

More seriously, he argued that National Lottery funding had transformed sport in the UK.