WHEN she spoke to a conference of East Lancs businesswomen, Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson had some sharp observations about working in the gentlemen's club which is the House of Commons.

She started as secretary to the legendary Blackburn MP and Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle and learnt early that life in a man's world was tough.

But when Labour adopted the policy of "all women short-lists" there was an outcry from male MPs saying that sub-standard women would be elected.

Mrs Anderson

revealed: "I used to say 'We will only truly have achieved equality in the House of Commons when there as many stupid women MPs as there are stupid men.'"

And she revealed that in 1993 she was involved in organising a party for those Labour MPs, like her, who were celebrating the first anniversary of their election to Parliament.

Mrs Anderson told the Ewood Park audience: "I was running around dispensing pieces of birthday cake when a male Labour MP said to me: 'Oh Janet you should be making policy, not tea.' My response was 'The difference between us is that I can do both simultaneously.'"

PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice's reputation as a Parliamentary terrier was advanced this week as he harried Health Secretary John Reid yet again over East Lancashire's dentistry crisis. Round the corridors of Westminster he is now known as "the man who cannot be satisfied."