Stephen Williams, who became the Liberal Democrat Higher Education Spokesman five months ago, will find himself in the hot seat if his party ditches its commitment to abolishing university tuition fees.
But while selling a pro-fees policy to the party rank and file - many of whom remain deeply opposed to tuition charges - may not suit all politicians, Mr Williams relishes a challenge.
His decision to become a Lib Dem was not an obvious one. He was born into a Welsh mining community and a Labour Party stronghold - his grandfathers were miners, his father was a road builder and his mother a cleaner.
Mr Williams was educated at Mountain Ash comprehensive in South Wales - which he happily describes as one of the worst-performing schools in Wales when he was a pupil. He developed an "anti-establishment streak" early on and gravitated towards the Lib Dems.
He spent a number of years as a Lib Dem councillor and stood for Parliament twice in Bristol before being elected Lib Dem MP for Bristol West in 2005.
In the past two years, he has been busy. As Lib Dem Public Health Spokesman, Mr Williams campaigned for a complete ban on smoking. He also became a member of the Education and Skills Select Committee last summer and played an active role in quizzing unions and employers in an attempt to break the deadlocked pay dispute in May.
As one of the signatories of the famous letter from Lib Dem MPs saying that they could no longer serve under former leader Charles Kennedy, he is no stranger to controversy.
Indeed, before the gay encounters of Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes were front page news, Mr Williams was the Lib Dems' first openly gay MP.
"The problem is that if you come out when you are not very well known no one really notices, so you have to keep coming out," he says.
When appointed Higher Education Spokesman earlier this year, to work alongside Sarah Teather the Education Spokeswoman, he immediately professed support for the Lib Dem policy on top-up fees. "I believe passionately that education should be free at all levels and the fact that the Lib Dems have abolished tuition fees in Scotland shows that it can be done."
But as the Lib Dems review their policies in the run-up to the next election, in particular their tax policies, higher education will come under the spotlight.
And Mr Williams is aware that by the time of the next election the landscape will be very different - top-up fees will be well established and the pressure to lift the cap on the £3,000 fee is likely to be unstoppable. "We will obviously look at our policy, but whatever we decide will be carefully researched and costed," he says.
"We are not in the business of junking policies without proper consideration," he says, referring to the moves of the Conservative education team to rapidly distance themselves from the party's previous opposition to top-up fees.
What Mr Williams is clear about is that any system of funding must be fair to all students and not overburden them with debt. Further, it must not create a two-tier system of universities.
"I was very aware, listening to the debate on pay in the select committee, that some institutions can clearly afford to pay more than others," he says. "There is a clear equity issue here."
As well as considering the big funding questions, the Lib Dem education team also plans to turn the spotlight on science education.
"The decline of science teaching in comprehensives is a scandal," he says.
"This has a knock-on effect on university departments."
Mr Williams, who graduated in history from Bristol University, is a keen psephologist. "The Conservatives have been wiped out electorally in almost every major university town," he says. "They are not seen as a credible party for intellectuals."
After his degree, Mr Williams qualified as an accountant and worked as a tax consultant.
He has been an outspoken critic of bullying, ensuring that the Education Select Committee took evidence sessions on the issue, and has commented on homophobic bullying in schools. "I was bullied at school. The 1980s were a time when people talked of a gay plague, Section 28 was in force and the Government was hostile.
"It was not a good time to be a gay teenager and I worry that things have improved little," he says.
I GRADUATED FROM
Bristol University.
MY FIRST JOB WAS
as a children's play leader when I was a student.
MY MAIN CHALLENGE IS
to get re-elected and get lots of other Liberal Democrats elected at the next election.
WHAT I HATE MOST
is pessimism.
IN TEN YEARS I
hope to be part of a Liberal Democrat government.
MY FAVOURITE JOKE
was told during discussions on homophobic bullying: what is the difference between being black and being gay? You don't have to tell your mother you're black.