RIBBLE Valley Tory Nigel Evans and his Chorley Labour colleague Lindsay Hoyle were this week spotted in a London casino.

Mr Evans said: "We weren't there to gamble.

"We were going as part of an all-party group to see how the casino works and how it will be affected by the relaxation in the gambling laws.

"We didn't do any gambling at all and we didn't even have chips with our dinner."

PRACTISING Roman Catholic Greg Pope, of Hyndburn has given up the lift to his fifth floor office in Westminster's Norman Shaw Building for Lent.

And it is certainly causing him some pain.

He is frequently seen cursing and wheezing but he makes it to the top of the stairs, suggesting that he hasn't given up cigarettes as well.

HYNDBURN MP Greg Pope was today reflecting on the varied nature of an MP's job.

He said: "A school in my constituency, which doesn't want to be named unless it is successful, have asked me to invite Sir Cliff Richard to visit it.

"I never expected to do that as an MP.

"But I met the Prime Minister this week who stayed at Sir Cliff's West Indian villa. Perhaps I should have asked him for the phone number."

ONE of the many TV interviews Mr Pike faced after Tory leader Michael Howard came to his constituency to attack the British National Party, the Labour back bencher was concerned for the presenter's geography.

He told the TV journalist who repeatedly kept saying they were in Barnsley: "Do you know where we are in Burnley in Lancashire not Barnsley in Yorkshire or is it a deliberate mistake to make sure I am listening to your questions?"