For 28 years, Lancashire County Council has been a Labour fiefdom and Clitheroe has returned a Liberal councillor who, apart from drawing his allowances and expenses, has just had to sit in a corner and watch the big boys get on with the work.

This time, it looks as if it will be different and the opinion polls make it seem that the Conservatives could take control of the county from Labour. So they are taking it all much more seriously and really working hard to unseat the Liberal.

The County Council disposes of a truly awesome amount of money – more than £700m. this year – and the Clitheroe Conservatives want to get their hands on as much of it as possible to spend in the town.

The big question of the moment is how many candidates there will be.

There will certainly be three, but the British National Party has started distributing leaflets in the town and people are wondering whether they will stand as well. It could be a great, posthumous triumph for the late Sir Oswald Moseley.

The slogan of his pre-War British Union of Fascists was "British Jobs for British Workers" and it looks as if he might have two parties, Labour and BNP, using it in the election.

That would be a pity for young Mr Thurogood-Hyde, the chairman of the local Labour Party. He is working terribly hard trying to build the Labour vote and having to share slogans with the BNP risks splitting it.

He also has a keen sense of history and the decency to be at least a little embarrassed at being saddled with a BUF slogan.
The other question, of course, is who the Conservative and Liberal candidates will be.

It will seem odd if the Liberals do not select the sitting member, Stephen Sutcliffe. He is both a county and a borough councillor and his wife, Margaret, is a borough and a town councillor.

It is like a proper family business and it would seem odd, indeed, if they were deprived of their living and Alan Knox – whose real ambition is to unseat Nigel Evans at the General Election next year – was given the county council candidacy, as a sort of practice run.

I, for one, would find it more than a little disconcerting to vote for someone who did not really want the job.
The Conservatives are completely enigmatic and all they will say is that they will announce their candidate on April 29th. I wonder what they are hiding?

I can rarely muster any interest at all in local elections, but this one is different.

There is currently so little money around that the way the county spends its £700m. could be important to Clitheroe.

This is a subject to which I will return. Happy voting!