WHEN Fylde MP Michael Jack answered the telephone at the weekend the last thing he expected was to hear Willam Hague offering him a job in the shadow cabinet.

After getting over the surprise and consulting with his wife, Alison, he delightedly accepted the post of Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

On Tuesday night (November 3) he was thrown in at the deep end when he was given the task of chairing the first agriculture debate of this parliamentary session.

With Michael Jack's typical self-confidence he said he was looking forward to the challenge and to asking the Labour Government some hard questions.

The vacancy for Michael Jack arose after David Curry, a noted pro-European Tory, resigned over the issue of the party's stance on Europe.

Outlining his own stance on Europe, Mr Jack said: "Everybody seems to assume that I am staunchly pro-Europe.

"I have to bring people up short. I would call myself a Euro-practic, knowing there is a lot of practical politics to go through before our objectives can be achieved.

"There are some very real questions that are totally unanswerable at the moment."

Mr Jack, former financial secretary to the Treasury in John Major's government, was moved to Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from a junior shadow ministerial position on health.

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