ONE of the recurring themes during the Swan closure saga has been the Labour Party's claim of a "plot" to save the ailing theatre. There have been dark hints that the whole rescue plan has been a stitch-up from beginning to end.

In fact, all sorts of accusations have been flying about during the past few weeks. Claiming they'd been excluded from the project, opposition members on Worcester City Council told Tory leader Stephen Inman they were concerned there'd been no formal bidding process.

They also complained that only two cabinet members and three officers were involved in the interview process to select a new manager.

Of course, a cabinet stacked with a ruling Labour majority would have consulted the Tories at every stage. As if. It's enough to make a pig laugh.

Infamy, they've got it in for me, is the cry. And Labour members want to talk about plots. Well, that's fine. So let's talk plots.

For those of you who've been holidaying on Mars and missed the events of the last week, here's a brief recap.

Last Tuesday, the Swan's future was thrown into chaos when its board made a last-ditch attempt to keep control. The twist came four hours before Worcester City Council's cabinet met to discuss Huntingdon Hall director Chris Jaeger's proposal to take over.

The word on the street - reported exclusively by this paper - had been that Councillor Adrian Gregson and his Labour group were considering "calling in" the proposal.

This would have led to a possible two-month wait while councillors scrutinised the plans. The theatre's first production in April would need to be postponed. But more about that later.

The Evening News got wind of the call-in move on the morning of Thursday, February 21. Within 24 hours, the story was our front page lead item.

Coun Gregson defended the concept of calling in the proposals, saying that councillors had a right to ensure the right decisions were made. He was reported as saying: "All this has been carried out in secret, and the first time there will be any proper discussion about it will be next Tuesday."

Coun Gregson added that a move to call in the proposals could equally come from Independent or even disgruntled Tory councillors.

However, the next day - Saturday - the Independents' leader Mike Layland rang this newspaper and made it very clear his party would do no such thing.

An hour later, the Evening News hit the streets. On Page 2, we reported that Great Witley Operatic Society's production of The Pirates of Penzance - due to begin on Tuesday, April 29 - would run the risk of being delayed.

Monday's edition later carried a piece amplifying this concern. Angela Harris, a member of the amateur group, said the group risked losing more than £15,000 if the theatre's opening was postponed.

The chairman of Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society's Youth Section - which aims to stage Annie Get Your Gun on Tuesday, July 29 - also voiced similar fears in our weekend paper.

In the same news item, Gerald Harris, chairman of the Swan Board of Directors, said that the board had never been asked if it wanted to submit a bid to run the theatre after surrendering the lease to the council.

Remember, this was reported in our Saturday edition. Three days later, the Swan board - after months of coming up with precisely nothing, no Plan B - put in a bid.

It's my contention that, as soon as the Labour group realised the Evening News was going to spill the beans, it was decided that the calling-in strategy had be shelved.

Strategy? Sorry, I mean plot. Yes, plot. If the Labour group wants to talk about plots, then so will I.

So how's this for a conspiracy theory. I believe that, once the Labour group's "spoiler" had been rumbled, there was only one thing for it. And that was a counter-attack on Chris Jaeger's business plan for the Swan - in other words, the board was sweet-talked into pulling its own "bid" from the hat.

While we're still very much on the subject of plots, I've also faced of a number of charges myself, levelled by Labour conspiracy theorists and their friends. For example, it's been claimed that Chris Jaeger and I have been hatching schemes in dark alleyways.

Pathetic, paranoid nonsense. The fact is that Chris and I have known each other for years. He's a consummate professional and was always the only hope for the Swan. His appointment has been long overdue. And I've merely been confirming what many, many people have been saying for months.

Actually, it's high time the people of Worcester realised what the Labour group and its sycophants are doing to the arts in this city. In the guise of protecting the Swan, they are, in reality, destroying the very thing they say must be saved.

Labour's also spinning the whole thing out until the May elections. It's a high-risk strategy that may backfire with spectacular results.

Earlier this year, Labour made a pledge to re-open the theatre if it won control of the city council in May. Blaming the arts-hating Tories would be the strategy - conveniently forgetting, poltroons that they are - that there's at least one Tory on the Swan Board.

Joy Squires, the chairwoman of Worcester Labour Party, said the rest of the manifesto would be launched closer to polling day. We reported her as saying: "We want people to know that, if they want the theatre, they'll have the opportunity to vote for it."

So, if we're talking about the subject of plots - and remember it wasn't me who introduced this notion in the first place - then anything that kept the kettle boiling would certainly come in handy.

I have this suspicion that the Labour group has been talking incessantly to the Swan board in an attempt to come up with a mutually-beneficial course of action. And last Tuesday was the result.

And that's my belief. Admittedly, it's only my own little conspiracy theory - but I think it has legs, don't you?

However, what's beyond any doubt is that there appear to be people in high places who don't want Chris Jaeger at any price. They'd rather see the whole ship go down than have him as captain on the bridge.

But all this ducking and diving will come at a price. For there's now a real risk that the arts in Worcester will be done to death on the altar of party politics.

Some of us always knew that the Worcester Swan establishment would close ranks if their private, taxpayer-funded club was threatened.

Yes, private club - for that's exactly what the Swan was, a cash-devouring monolith of self-indulgence masquerading as a temple of high art. Thank God those days are over.

But be warned. If Chris Jaeger is hindered in his work to save the Swan - or, even worse, prevented - then theatre in Worcester is finished. Kaput. He's our last chance.

Tragically, there are politicians who prefer to fiddle while this particular Rome burns. But to those who put party above people, I'd say this. If Worcester loses its last remaining theatre because of the action of a bunch of party hacks, then its citizens will take revenge at the ballot box.

The electorate - the taxpayers who, for years, have poured thousands of their hard-earned money into the Swan - will examine the evidence and make up their own minds.

The Swan saga may be Labour's undoing. This could be Cripplegate all over again.