* Property developer Brian Boys has been a loyal supporter of Labour’s Janet Anderson over the years.

His company, Waterfoot-based BE Boys, has donated thousands to the local Rossendale and Darwen party, he has lent her an office for her campaign and is even her official “proposer” for the election.

So Mrs Anderson was far from happy when I told her he had been pictured on the new leaflets of Tory rival Jake Berry.

Mr Boys, who knows Mr Berry having used his services as a solicitor, is now at the centre of a tug-of-war between the candidates but would not confirm where his party loyalties lay.

“I’m trying to be nice to everyone, and it’s backfiring on me”, he said.

* Jack Straw has taken to YouTube in an attempt to retain his Blackburn seat.

He is pictured outside the town’s landmarks telling voters about the progress made under New Labour.

* UKIP candidate Graham Cannon raised a laugh at a hustings for the Pendle candidates when his rival Andrew Stephenson said he had a “paperless office”.

“That’s because it's all being pushed through our letterboxes!”, Mr Cannon quipped.

* National hostilities are not repeated in Blackburn with Darwen, where the Tories and Lib Dems share control of the council.

The two parties are only standing against each other in four out of 15 council seats in the town.

Party bosses insist no deal has been done, claiming they simply do not have enough candidates.

But they managed to compete in 10 seats in 2006, the year before their power-sharing deal.

By my calculations 1,112 Lib Dem voters and 1,144 Tories will have to find someone else to vote for in the council elections.

* In the Bradley ward of Pendle Council, Labour candidate Mohammed Iqbal has avoided a showdown with his brother.

Wajed Iqbal wanted to stand for George Galloway’s Respect Party, and his name appeared on the original list of candidates but he withdrew four days later.