Will there be a rigorous process of appointment or will the new jobs be given to favoured sons who simply fit with the Tories' out of touch and out of date ideology?

BBC: Ofsted head calls for local school troubleshooters

The future of the category B prison had been under review with its conversion thought to be one of the favoured options.

BBC: Lincoln Prison immigration centre plan scrapped

The annual promotion round at the end of March would provide an opportunity: all being well, navy and air force officers could again be favoured, as they have recently, to promote a balance with the army.

ECONOMIST: Waiting for Wahid

Coastal city Port Elizabeth will host the Chiefs-Pirates fixture and the venues for the City games will be announced later this week with Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria favoured.

BBC: Man City to play in South Africa

Some of the tribes there have a history of hostility to the colonel, while the rugged Tuareg people who populate a swathe of the Sahara desert from Libya to Mali, and were long favoured by the Libyan leader with jobs and guns, seem to be abandoning him.

ECONOMIST: Libya

In fact I left the Radio Wales studio early yesterday rather aware that if Owen Smith didn't turn out to be Ed Miliband's choice, I had rather a lot of ground to make up with whoever had been favoured.

BBC: Owen Smith steps into the shadows