FOLLOWING an outcry over Lord Howell’s comments about the “desolate north”, you would think the Tories would be keeping the quips to a minimum.

But not Ian Hudspeth.

No sooner had the Tory leader of Oxfordshire County Council arrived in Manchester last week for his party’s conference then a comment was published on Twitter.

He said: “Need to check if I’m in the right Manchester – it’s not raining.”

Now, the weather might be slightly more mundane than a demand that fracking be concentrated on northern countryside, but lessons learned? I’m not so sure.

At the city council meeting on Monday, members realised the Labour group had swelled so much they might all struggle to fit in.

New Labour councillor Louise Upton was welcomed to the chamber, but several councillors were left amusedly baffled by the task of finding her somewhere to sit that was not amongst the opposition.

With 30 councillors to the opposition’s 18, Labour has a huge majority, but with great power comes great responsibility.

Meanwhile, Greens are getting green over the amount of coverage given to their Labour counterparts by the city’s media team.

A demand by the five-strong Green group that they be quoted in any press releases about successes they contributed to failed on Monday night.

They also failed in their demands to have access to embargoed press releases at the same time as members of the media.

The Insider would love to sit there on the sidelines and watch any councillor of any political colour try to keep embargoed information under their hat for more than a few minutes, let alone the hours and often days the media has to wait to publish sensitive stories.

Not only does an embargo bear no legal weight (they are obeyed by papers out of professional courtesy and as a matter of trust with councils rather than requirement), but often they are imposed to give print and broadcast the same bite of the apple timing-wise.