DR Richard Taylor has entered the running for the award for Best Cultural Reference used in a Westminster debate.

It appeared Peter Luff had scared off any competition with his voyage through Greek mythology in an ultimately futile bid to salvage the Middle Way on hunting.

(Mr Luff memorably said: "Aeneas, Jason and Odysseus all had to pass through the narrow strait, and when they passed, they were not engaging in some soggy compromise or refusing to take some braver, nobler path.

(They were taking the only safe path, a middle way, and one that demanded great courage and skill.")

But Dr Taylor has come fighting back with a slightly more contemporary, but no less impressive, nod to 17th Century playwright Philip Massinger.

Referring to Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget to fund a £40 billion investment in the NHS, he said: "In 1624, in a play entitled The Parliament of Love - this is certainly not the Parliament of love, but it is a Parliament and the words are very relevant -Philip Massinger wrote: 'All words, and no performance.'

"The Government will be judged on their performance from now on. We have the words; we are waiting for the performance."

Dr Taylor must also be commended for managing to shamelessly plug his own Wyre Forest constituency while remaining engaged - albeit loosely - in the NHS debate.

He said: "Other MPs have mentioned the reform of health care management. Sir Terence Conran, writing in The Sunday Times recently, pointed out how marvellous we are in this country at organising events such as the Queen Mother's funeral.

"We have some superb businesses in my constituency: we make the best carpets; and amazingly, in the middle of England, we make superb ocean-going cruisers.

"We can do things well. In parts of the NHS we are doing that, so why are we not doing it in every part of the NHS? Excellent management is important."