LiberaL Democrats have been left with only a crumb of power after Tory county councillors gave all but one of 29 posts on key outside bodies to their own members.

Group leader Dermot Roaf left the new cabinet's first meeting yesterday (Wednesday) empty-handed after his call for political balance to continue on regional and national bodies went unheeded.

The bodies, which include the Local Government Association and the County Councils Network, deal with major issues including housing, health, countryside, waste and employment.

Lord Bill Bradshaw, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Wallingford, is the only non-Tory to retain his post and will continue to head the controversial Oxford Expressway guided bus scheme.

Conservative council leader Keith Mitchell and his colleagues had earlier decided to reserve for themselves all the council's executive posts and chairmanships of the scrutiny committees, putting Tories in charge of scruinising decisions made by their party colleagues.

Mr Roaf warned that allocating positions on outside bodies according to political party instead of expertise could put Oxfordshire at a disadvantage.

He said: "Oxfordshire is losing a wealth of talent and experience by not using members of the opposition parties who have represented the council very ably for many years.

"It's very likely that the council will miss out on places on influential sub-committees which are all-party. These places will go to Labour or Liberal Democrat members of other authorities instead of an Oxfordshire member.

"It is for this reason that most other Conservative-controlled councils send balanced delegations to these bodies."

Mr Mitchell said: "I've listened to Dermot Roaf's case for balanced representation, but it didn't persuade me, because there's been a sea change in this council and we're determined to reflect that."