"Government meltdown is not all good news for Shropshire: two of the eight junior Government spokesmen who resigned yesterday had significant influence over the future of RAF Cosford, due to be determined next month. Tom Watson, as a Midlands MP, understood the case for Cosford well. He was also the Minister making the decision. David Wright MP as PPS to John Hutton and before that David Miliband, also had the ear of two powerful members of the Cabinet. Now he has blown this credibility away. I hope very much that this will not affect Cosford's chances to win this great prize, since Cosford's case is outstanding and should speak for itself. But under this Government you never can tell whether personality counts for more than policy."

Tom Watson MP, until resigning yesterday was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, directly responsible making the decision over Cosford's case to become the national centre of excellence for defence training.