A court case could decide the legality of indirect spending to promote election candidates, after the Crown Prosecution Service yesterday confirmed that it had passed on to police a complaint about a special edition of the Daily Mirror which was distributed free in the Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election, writes John Rentoul. In London buses will pull over, taxis come to a halt, and the annual Lord Mayor's Show will delay its 11am start.. Mr Lillies said yesterday that if all pledges were honoured magistrates courts would put proceedings on hold and councils all over the country would set off flares at the beginning and end of the silence.Nationwide, leading stores and supermarkets will turn off piped music. Prince Andrew, John Major and armed forces chiefs have led the establishment support.

Mr Lillies said yesterday that everyone - including pacifists - should feel able to take part.A legion survey last week showed overwhelming support for the revival of the silence, even amongst those in their teens and early twenties. The Sun newspaper, which championed the cause, has been angered by publicity consultants' attempts to keep the campaign's appeal as wide as possible and veer away from the downright jingoistic. "We have done our bit." After six months' campaigning for the restoration of the Armistice day two-minute silence, the veterans' association will find out today, the 11th of the 11th, if it has managed to seize the public imagination and expand a ritual which originally commemorated the hundreds of thousands lost in the First World War to include all those who have died for their country.For legion officials, who admit that they could yet end up with egg on their faces in the attempt to reintroduce a tradition which has been all but dead for half a century, it has been a nail-biting final week.At times hitting the right tone proved a tricky business. MARY BRAID "It is now in the hands of the public," said Jeremy Lillies, Royal British Legion spokesman, yesterday. Mr Fallon was a Member of the No Turning Back group of MPs formed to defend the Thatcher Revolution in the mid-1980s.. I wish all the other candidates well in future."A Minister for 13 years, Sir Nicholas' career had appeared to be drawing to a reluctant close. He fell out with his daughter, Victoria, last year over civil rights for the disabled.

As Minister for the Disabled he had to admit to misleading MPs when he denied his department had been involved in wrecking tactics designed to kill a disability Bill.Victoria, a lobbyist for rights for disabled people, denounced her father's actions and added ignominy to injury by joining the calls for him to resign.Sir Nicholas was finally returned to the backbenches in John Major's Cabinet reshuffle two months later and earned the consolation of a knighthood.He has long been a mainstay of the "wet" wing of the Tory party, however, last night Sir Nicholas made overtures to the Right, speaking of the "undesirability of entering a single European currency" and quoting approvingly from the ministerial speeches of John Redwood, the Prime Minister's challenger for the Tory leadership.Mr Fallon, 43, mounted a right-wing challenge for the nomination for the new seat created by the Boundary Commissioners in a merger of Sir Nicholas' Chelsea seat and the neighbouring Kensington. Over pounds 1bn has been spent on privatisation and now all the trains are just going to be run by former managers.". JOHN RENTOUL Political Correspondent Former Minister Sir Nicholas Scott rescued his political career last night in what he admitted had been a "close-run thing", when he was chosen to represent the safest Conservative seat in the country.Sir Nicholas, 62, won the vote on the third and final ballot of 560 Tory members in the new Kensington and Chelsea constituency, beating a strong challenge from another former Minister, Michael Fallon.Sir Nicholas is due to make a court appearance on Tuesday on charges of drink-driving, failing to stop after an accident and driving without due care and attention.The charges have led to considerable grumbling among local Tory members about his record as an MP, but a large turnout of his supporters overcame the efforts of younger, more right-wing members.Sir Nicholas said: "It was a first-class shortlist of four very able people and it was no surprise it was a close vote. This is the scheme under which train operators will be fined if too many trains are late or cancelled.Apparently the original version of the regime has had to be scrapped by Mr Salmon because it was inconsistent with the current system. Now Mr Salmon is negotiating with the "preferred" bidders individually over the performance regime.Neither Mr Salmon nor the Department of Transport would comment officially on the bidding process but Brian Wilson, Labour's transport spokesman, said: "The lack of outside bidders shows that the whole privatisation process is a sham.