CONSERVATIVE shadow business minister Ken Clarke quipped with members of a jobs club that he was also busy applying for a job as an MP.

He joined Warrington South Conservative candidate David Mowat at the party’s jobs club that has been running for more than a year at the Conservative South office for people who have been left without work during the recession.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “I’m applying for a job but in rather more dramatic fashion. I’m hoping I can see if I can keep up the skills I had when we were last in Government.

“I have never had the experience of job hunting. After this election there will be quite a few MPs who will need this jobs club.”

Mr Clarke visited the group on Tuesday and spoke to the members about the effects the recession had on them.

He met with a wide variety of people young and old who had previously had management level jobs until they found themselves being made redundant during the recession or had been left without work after graduating from university.

“That is a feature of this recession, people in management jobs have found themselves let off. This started as a financial crisis started by the banks and the failure of the regulatory system that Gordon Brown set up. It has had a much wider effect on a wider range of people,” Mr Clarke added.

The club has been targeted in helping people in those situations restart their career with help with writing CVs and networking.

And so far the club has helped to get around 70 per cent of its members since it started in January 2010 back into work.

He added: “If a middle aged person has had a reasonable job it’s quite a hard job for them because they don’t expect to be in that position. They benefit from this type of support.”

When asked about what the Conservative party would do for an area such as the Omega Business Park Mr Clarke said they would create a more stable economy that encourages businesses to flourish.

David Mowat added: “What Omega wants is an MP who makes an effort to encourage business development to the area. That is where the business development had been let down.”

Mr Mowat was joined by George Osborne, shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, for a campaign walkabout in Stockton Heath.

He spent Saturday morning chatting to residents about their election issues.