[Tealeaf]

God moves in mysterious ways - and so does Britcliffe. There is no doubt that he was seriously peeved off at not being selected as the constituency candidate and I would guess that due to the age factor he is unlikely to be selected in 5 years time or whenever the next election pops up. Maybe he's angling for a seat in the Lords? Now there's a thought - Lord Britcliffe of Ossy!

As for the quango malarky, I suspect nothing will happen there, simply because this government is intent on getting rid of them. There is however, one frightening possibility and that concerns the revamp of the local NHS bureaucracy. If,as planned, the purse strings are to be handed over to local GP's then invariably there will be some form of political representation to sit alongside them and so that means someone like Britcliffe could well end up determining clinical priorities for the ill folk of Hyndburn. Yuk!