Mr Guy made the ominous request to Mr Ramsay, one of two Liberal Upper House Member for Western Victoria, after the Geelong-based MP was charged with high-level drink driving on the weekend.

Mr Ramsay blew a reading of 0.19 per cent, almost four times over the legal limit, shortly after being intercepted by police in Barwon Heads late on Saturday night.

He told the Geelong Advertiser that he was “not hiding from anything. I feel like an idiot.” 

“I'm really gutted that I did such a thing and the actions are inexcusable. The consequences will haunt me forever," Mr Ramsay told the newspaper. 

Mr Ramsay, 63, had been pre-selected for another four-year term in state parliament.

He was pre-selected unopposed for the position along with fellow Liberal Member for Western Victoria, the Ballarat-based Joshua Morris.

If Mr Ramsay does decide not to stand again, it will open the way for other Liberal nominees to seek pre-selection to replace the gap in the Coalition ticket. 

Mr Guy told a media conference on Monday he had given Mr Ramsay up to 48 hours to consider whether he would stand at the next state election in November, only 17 weeks away.

Mr Guy said he had expressed his “anger, disappointment and frustration” to Mr Ramsay that he had been charged with drink driving, “let alone to that extent” at which he had been charged.

He said he had accepted Mr Ramsay’s offer to resign as the opposition’s spokesman for agriculture but had also asked him to consider his future “beyond the 2018 election.” 

He said he wanted to receive Mr Ramsay’s response to his request in a face-to-face conversation.

Mr Guy said there was no excuse for drink driving and he expected the charge against Mr Ramsay left not only him angry, but all those Victorians who had to deal with road trauma.

Mr Ramsay was elected to the Upper House in 2010. He won pre-selection for the seat after losing an earlier pre-selection bid for the federal seat of Corangamite to Sarah Henderson.