NIGEL Evans believes he brings a bit of "Top Gun" style glamour to the Ribble Valley -- even if he can't quite match the Hollywood lifestyle of its star Tom Cruise.

The Tory vice chairman has confessed that the multi millionaire film actor is the person he would most like to swap places with.

And this is despite Mr Cruise's recent split from his glamorous wife of more than ten years Nicole Kidman.

Mr Evans said he had no doubt about his desire to take over the actor's role -- although he is not sure the Hollywood star would want to take up his day job at Westminster and in East Lancashire.

He said: "I think this comment may come back to haunt me but Tom Cruise has the good looks and is able to have a great time all the time, so he was an obvious choice really.

"I am a great fan of Tom Cruise. Can't you see the resemblance, we are both talented and handsome! The only difference is the money.

"My dream would be to have Tom Cruise play me in a movie, but my nightmare is that they might cast Julian Clary instead. I love Tom's films. I don't think he's made a bad one.

"I particularly like Cocktail, that's a very fast moving film. Another of my favourites is The Firm in which Tom plays a lawyer mixed up with gangsters. I have actually stayed in the hotel in the Cayman Islands where much of it was filmed. That's the closest I have ever got to being Tom Cruise. "If he became the MP for Ribble Valley I think he would bring a touch of Hollywood here but in the long run I am not sure the area would want that and I am not sure that he would like it either.

"Certainly the surgeries would be full of young women. You'd have to book up weeks in advance and some of the constituents might even bring a problem for him to solve. I suppose there is a bit of a similarity in that all politicians do a bit of acting at the despatch box in the Commons.

"But what really matters is the doing. Tom might enjoy being MP for a few weeks but in the end I think he'd find it was very hard work and not as exciting as being a film star.

"He goes on from one role to the next and does something different every time. An MP doesn't, he's got a hard slog to do."

On the question of whether he'd leave Miss Kidman, Mr Evans was reticent. He said: "I haven't the faintest idea. I don't know what happened. But I certainly would have made sure she signed a pre nuptial agreement if I was Tom Cruise."

He said he didn't think that late night sittings at Westminster, being vice chairman of the all party beer group and having free membership of Stringfellows nightclub means he can quite match the glittering party lifestyle of his screen hero!