“I never start an argument and I’m never the first one to throw insults about. But when people insult me, I say: ‘Okay, have some of this’,” admits the 76-year-old, with a smile that suggests he may have relished, rather than rued, the frequent occasions on which he has found himself at the centre of a spat. The Burnley-born Conservative politician brought down the curtain on a near six-decade career in local government earlier this month by not seeking re-election to County Hall – and thus bringing to an end the second of two stints at the helm of an authority which he has controlled for eight of the last 12 years.