News the A46 would be upgraded was astonishing yesterday - given that just a couple of weeks ago junior transport minister Paul Clark refused to commit cash for the scheme.
Doubtless to say the appointment of Geoff Hoon as Transport Secretary, a Notts MP which other Notts MPs have the ear of, has helped.
But another person's arrival in the cabinet around the same time may also have played a key role according to some of Lobbydog's sources.
Dave Parsons, leader of Leicestershire County Council and chair of the East Midlands Regional Assembly - which has been crying out for cash to dual the A46 - is apparently a close associate of Peter Mandelson.
Doubtless to say the appointment of Geoff Hoon as Transport Secretary, a Notts MP which other Notts MPs have the ear of, has helped.
But another person's arrival in the cabinet around the same time may also have played a key role according to some of Lobbydog's sources.
Dave Parsons, leader of Leicestershire County Council and chair of the East Midlands Regional Assembly - which has been crying out for cash to dual the A46 - is apparently a close associate of Peter Mandelson.
In what sounds like a lazy cliche - the two were at Oxford (not Cambridge) together.
Since then they have remained in contact allowing Coun Parsons to have a direct line to one of the most influential men in Government.
Since then they have remained in contact allowing Coun Parsons to have a direct line to one of the most influential men in Government.
Posts
2 comments:
get your facts right - parsons was at st johns oxford, mandelson at st catherines oxford. there's thousands of people at oxford no and locally no evidence of this relationship... otherwise we'd have constantly heard parsons bragging about this in leicestershire. tony blair was at st johns in oxford roughly the same time as well - again no evidence there.
mandelson has only recently been in the cabinet much to his surprise - the a46 decision has been worked on for some time.
Lobbydog grants that the two were at Oxford together, and not Cambridge, as the original post suggested.
However the A46 plan has been worked on for 16 years, but the decision to push it through was only made relatively recently – political capital counts.
Also the chronology of the pair’s time at Oxford was not the basis for the post, it is mere history.
Their relationship today as spoken of by other regional politicians, though not the ones you know it seems, led to this post.
Lobbydog also grants that politicians are not always the most trustworthy souls.
Keep writing…
Post a Comment