THE LEADER of the ousted Conservative party said the district council's new cabinet was 'no better than Southern League standard'.

Cllr Graham Payne, who was the authority's deputy leader, promised his 18 colleagues would give the ruling alliance of Lib Dems, Labour and Independents a tough time.

"We don't necessarily want the power back," he said. "We want to harry and push the administration around a bit.

"I don't think they will be serving the best interests of west Wiltshire. We have nothing to fear against a Southern League standard cabinet. They are talking about a raft of cuts but we didn't actually cut that much."

Cllr Payne said he was not worried about his party being reported to the Standards Board for England for walking out of a vote, and said they could request a judicial review over how the coup was executed.

A failed coup caused a political storm in August, but was only a prelude to the main event last week.

Cllr Chris Newbury (Ind) was sacked from the cabinet after he and three other councillors signed a motion to remove the chairman Cllr Marion Clegg (Con).

The Lib Dems abstained from the vote and a coup was thwarted.

In a letter given to the Wiltshire Times this week, it is revealed Cllr Newbury was asked to leave the cabinet by leader Cllr Tony Phillips.

The letter said: "I have decided to replace you as the planning portfolio holder as I feel that you are no longer committed to working as a member of the cabinet."

Shadow cabinet

Leader: Graham Payne

Deputy leader: Julie Swabey

Finance: Roy While

Community: Linda Conley

Housing: Virginia Fortescue

Planning: Michael Mounde (policy) & Russell Hawker (development control)

Policy: Julian Bower

Environment: Richard Wiltshire

Communications & Licensing: Gerry Burnan OBE

Health: Brian Mudge