Tom's back up!

In the most extraordinary come back since Mandy's return to Cabinet for the third time Tom Harris has leapt back into the ring!

Tom leads with the right:

"Harris KO'd!"? Oh, I hardly think so, old chap!

"Your argument/article of faith that DfT specifies rolling stock is based on those occasions where the department - rightly and unavoidably - takes into account the rolling stock commitments of the rest of the network.

"How disgraceful!

"How dare the DfT look at the country as a whole when issuing franchises!

"And how comforting to know that your own solution is to have a Railway board.

"Membership drawn from... the good and the great from the World of Railways - only the self-appointed need apply (sounds like NR's existing Public Members. Ed) which will take no notice at all of the rolling stock that is committed in all parts of the country before giving the go-ahead to any franchisee's rolling stock plan.

That's not a recipe for disaster at all, oh no...

So would that be a qualified admission that DafT does indeed specify rolling stock then Tom?

LAST WORD: Tom concludes...

"No, or at least, not in the terms that you and Roger Ford constantly claim.

"It's up to TOCs to decide what rolling stock they want, but ministers wouldn't be doing their job properly if they didn't intervene - occasionally and only where necessary - to protect the wider network.

"Now go and hassle Andrew Adonis and leave me alone..."

If only the new minister were as accessible...