Clegg pushes influence

Transport Secretary Phil Hammond took a sneaky swipe at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Sheffield Hallam MP, during a hacks’ lunch I went to yesterday.

Hammond had been asked a question about High Speed Rail and told that Yorkshire authorities feared they would get pushed off the proposed route by the powerful North West lobby.

“Hmm,” Hammond mused.

“My experience of the Coalition Government so far is that Sheffield seems to have quite a strong lobbying organisation.”