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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.
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.