JOHN Denham today vowed to use his new position at the heart of Government to help boost the skills of Southampton workers.

The Labour MP for Southamp-ton Itchen, speaking to the Daily Echo shortly after his dramatic elevation to Gordon Brown's first Cabinet, said he was "delighted and excited" at the prospect of leading a new department in charge of science, skills and universities.

As Secretary of State for the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, Mr Denham has been tasked with arming the nation with the qualifications and training it needs to compete in the global economy.

Mr Denham, a chemistry graduate and a former president of Southampton University's Student Union, said he hoped to "draw on local experience and expertise" to help him do his job.

The MP's promotion ended a four-year period of exile from Government, which began when he resigned as Home Office minister in 2003 over his opposition to the Iraq war. Since then the 53-year-old has maintained a high profile in Parliament and the media in his role as chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee.

The committee has published reports that are critical of Government policy, but Mr Brown's decision to promote the Iraq rebel suggests he considered Mr Denham a wasted asset on the backbenches.

Mr Denham said: "I'm obviously personally delighted and excited. I am very privileged to have been given a Cabinet job and it's doubly exciting to be asked to set up a new department which is going to be so central to (the UK's) success over the next few years.

"In local terms, we need to enable Southampton and Southampton Solent Univers-ities to continue to grow and prosper, provide world-class research and turn ideas into successful businesses, and raise educational levels of those going into higher education.

"It's also about supporting many people in Southampton who have fewer qualifications at the moment, which keeps them out of better jobs with higher incomes."

Asked what effect his new role might have on his work as a constituency MP, Mr Denham replied: "The job I have been given is directly relevant to Southampton and I hope I can draw on local experience and expertise in doing my new job."

Mr Denham, who lists his recreations as cricket, cooking and walking, spent the early part of his career as a campaigner for groups including Friends of the Earth and War and Want and, later, served as a Southampton City councillor.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1992, having failed in 1983 and 1987. He was appointed opposition spokesman on social security by Tony Blair in 1995, and joined the Government as a social security minister following Labour's landslide win in 1997.

Last week, when questioned about his prospects for a return to the Government, Mr Denham said: "I would be quite interested in coming back under Gordon Brown, but that is very much down to him and whether he wants to offer me a job in his administration.

"We have to wait to see what comes up, if anything."

The city's other Labour MP, Alan Whitehead, was overlooked yesterday but could still join the lower ranks of Government when Mr Brown announces his junior ministerial appointments later today.

Dr Whitehead, who represents Southampton Test, served as a local government and fire minister from June 2001 to May 2002, when his department was scrapped in a reorganisation.