Straight-talking Tory Anna Soubry risked angering her boss yesterday by suggesting she was only appointed as public health minister because it is a 'a soft bloody girly option'.
David Cameron promoted her to the post in last year's reshuffle, putting her in charge of government policy on teenage pregnancy, abortion and measures to tackle smoking, obesity and alcohol abuse.
But, in an interview, the self-styled 'tough old bird' said she was determined to prove the role should not just be 'given to the girl again' as the rounded on colleagues plotting against the Prime Minister.
Miss Soubry took over from Anne Milton, who in turn took over from Labour's Gillian Merron.
Other recent incumbents include Dawn Primarolo, Caroline Flint and Melanie Johnson.
Meanwhile, the other junior health positions - dealing with issues such as social care, NHS finances and doctors' contracts - are usually given to men.
At present, all the other ministers in the Department of Health are men: Jeremy Hunt, Dan Poulter and Norman Lamb.
Miss Soubry, a former presenter of This Morning, made her controversial comments in Total Politics magazine.
She said: 'To be quite frank, when the PM said to me, "I want you to do public health", I thought, "Oh boss, I respect you so much, but I'm the only woman here and I get public health - I hope there's no connection there.
'Maybe I can make people realise that this is not a soft bloody girly option, it is a big serious job. I want my successor to be a man.
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'I'm a huge fan of our Prime Minister, but I did sit there in the Cabinet room and think, "Boss, you do know what you've just done? You've given public health to the girl again, except I'm not a girl, I'm a tough old bird".'
Prime Minister David Cameron has faced criticism for failing to promote more women into his government
David Cameron has faced criticism for his 'women's problem' - a failure to promote enough women to senior posts in his government.
Labour will seize upon Miss Soubry's comments, saying it shows that the Prime Minister sees some jobs as being only suitable for women.
But she insisted she was a ’big fan’ of the Prime Minister and called for an end to plotting against him.
In her unique straight-talking style, Miss Soubry added: ‘When people talk about such-and-such a person as an alternative to Cameron, there is no vacancy... What we now need to do is stop people in the party engaging in quite a lot of t*******, and to accept that we've achieved a huge amount, and it's all to play for.
‘I came into politics to fight lefties... that's where political fighting goes. The Tory Party must learn from its own history that when we fight each other, you can guarantee to lose.’
It is not the first time the minister has courted controversy. Soon after taking office she said she supported the legalisation of assisted dying.
Later, she said it was possible to tell a poor person because they were often fat.