IF the General Election had been confined just to Bucks, then William Hague would have woken up this morning as Prime Minister.

Buckinghamshire is one of the few areas of the country to remain solid Blue chip, despite Labour's second landslide.

Hague is now disappearing into the political wilderness while the Conservative Party nationally is in genuine danger of disappearing up its own backside.

But Bucks has remained largely immune from this, despite a strong fight in Wycombe by Labour.

The Tories here are vibrant, especially after winning the county council again, and increasing their share of seats into the bargain.

So why has Bucks remained in the Tory twilight zone? Tony Blair may relax most weekends at nearby Chequers, but he appears to have made little electoral impact here.

We suspect that the community's general affluence, the county's grammar schools and the tradition of Toryism are among the reasons that Bucks stays blue.

Midweek is politically neutral and our only desire is that our constituencies are represented by the best MPs possible. We wish the victors well for the sake of our county, and send our sympathies to the beaten candidates.

We sincerely hope the Government treats this county even-handedly, despite its political colouring. The electorate should not lose out on cash subsidies just because of political allegiances.

Incidentally, if the Tories are looking for a leader, then they will presumably want an experienced MP preferably an ex-minister with a good constituency record. Even better if this person had youth on his side, and had actually increased his own majority.

In other words, would Aylesbury's David Lidington really be such a bad bet for the job?