Internal Affairs minister Richard Worth may be running out of lives, as another overseas gaff saw him hauled over the coals in parliament for his controversial trip to India which Labour now claims he may have profited from personally.

Mr Worth says there was no conflict of interest over his six day trip to India last month, where he allegedly spoke on behalf of the government while brokering business deals for the India Trade Group.

Mr Worth is chairman of India Trade Group, and a director in the Indian Overseas Group and New Zealand Aviation.

Mr Worth spoke at a formal ceremony in his role as government minister, extolling the virtues of New Zealand as a location for aviation training, specifically referencing the Southern Institute of Technology which wants to train Indian pilots - and has links to New Zealand Aviation.

Mr Worth has now resigned the position after drawing the ire of the Prime Minister who has said that he has “little patience” for perceived conflict of interest issues.

Labour has been running attack lines ever since, including suggestions in parliament yesterday suggesting that Mr Worth had not only abused his ministerial privileges by allowing fellow shareholders to use ministerial facilitation at Auckland Airport, but may have benefited from the trip materially.

“Were his fellow shareholders in New Zealand Aviation—those who received, as private individuals, ministerial facilitation at Auckland Airport—amongst those who contributed $1,000 per person towards his personal expenses; if so, just how much did the trip to India cost him, or might he have run it at a small but tidy profit?” Labour’s Pete Hodgson said.

Mr Worth responded that he was “Unaware of the truth of that statement. I do not believe it to be correct."

Mr Key has said that Mr Worth’s actions were “stupid” and an obvious perceived conflict of interest involved, but does not believe it was intentional.

Either way, the damage is done, as one of the key principles of the new government has been a focus on integrity and transparency.

Opposition leader Phil Goff instantly demanded that Mr Worth be stripped of his portfolio, claiming that any Labour minister would be in a position of conflict of interest, a bizarre assertion given the last government’s irrepressible support for Winston Peters.