Coming soon to the Labour front bench, Life After Bryan. And with Dearing in the offing, Mr Blair may need to give the further and higher education brief rather more attention than it normally gets. Only he and possibly David Blunkett, one of the few shadow ministers on a promise, know who will get the job, but names being bandied include Blairite ex-academic employment spokesman Steve Byers, bright Lancashire backbencher Greg Pope and Hilary Armstrong, a former member of the education team.