BEING a Tory on new-look York council is a bit like being the referee at a World Cup football match, says John Galvin. "When the game is in progress, we have very little involvement," he said. "But when there's a difference of opinion we're going to be asked to adjudicate!"

And how. To put it bluntly: the Tories are likely to end up carrying the can for anything that goes wrong.

Whether they'll get the credit for anything that goes right remains to be seen.

Coun Galvin, the 62-year-old Tory constituency agent for Keighley who has, since the last local election, also been Tory councillor for Copmanthorpe ward, finds himself suddenly being in the unlikely position of council power broker.

His party may only hold three of the 53 seats on City of York Council: but with the two main parties running neck-and-neck following the recent by-elections (Labour now have 25 seats, the Lib Dems 24) John Galvin's Tories effectively hold the casting votes.

The by-elections which saw Labour so dramatically lose its hold on overall power in York could hardly have come at a more sensitive time. They took place just days before the new-style Cabinet was to have been appointed. A meeting to determine the make-up of the Cabinet has now had to be put on hold while the implications of having a hung council are considered.

More than that, they took place at a time when a number of very hot political chestnuts were in the fire.

The Barbican pool, the whole question of councillors pay and allowances - even the issue of whether or not pupils from Dunnington and Elvington primary schools should have the right to go to Fulford School: the Tories could in effect find themselves having the final say on all of them.

With the Labour group no longer holding an overall majority, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors have already pledged themselves to look again at some recent Labour decisions: the rise in the cost of home help for elderly people and the Dunnington/ Elvington link with Fulford School among them. For them to be able to reverse those decisions, though, the two parties need to work together.

The sense of frantic deals being struck behind closed doors is almost palpable. Coun Galvin insists he is not going to get into bed with the Lib Dems. His party, he says, will consider issues on a "case by case" basis. "Nobody can take our support for granted," he insisted: the classic stance of a small party that suddenly finds itself holding the balance of power.

Nevertheless, it's hard to avoid the feeling the Conservatives weren't quite ready for the new power suddenly thrust upon them.

It is, after all, 16 years since the Tories held power in York. Back in 1983 they were the minority administration, with 18 seats out of 65 on the old York City Council. In the years since, they have dwindled to a rump while the Lib Dems have grown into the clear second party challenging Labour for power.

Coun Galvin says all the right things about how the Conservatives are now in a position to "punch above their weight" - but he and his two colleagues are also clearly a little intimidated about the new responsibility on their shoulders.

"I've been in politics for a number of years, and I've never been in this position before," Coun Galvin said. "I've been a member of a controlling group, but never in a situation where as a group of three we've had such a responsibility. It is quite a frightening thought."

What it means is that any time Labour and the Liberal Democrats are deadlocked - which will be on many of the most crucial issues facing the council - it will be the Tories who will decide council policy.

Pressure groups will be only too aware of this - meaning Coun Galvin and his two colleagues, Gerald Dean and Rebecca Snowdon, will come in for some intense lobbying. They're also likely to end up carrying the can when things don't go the way the lobbyists want.

The issue by which they will most be judged is likely to be the swimming pools. It's that one issue that, probably more than any other, cost Labour its tenuous grip on overall control of the council.

The Tories have already come under fire for failing, at the first opportunity, to ally themselves with the Liberal Democrats to prevent the closure of the Barbican Pool. Coun Galvin insists, though, his group will not make easy pledges without first making sure the council has the resources to carry them through.

Instead, they will wait for an independent architect's report into the state of the Barbican pool before making a decision, he says.

"Whichever way we try to go, we're going to incur some criticism or wrath," he admitted. "It would have been easy to say yes, we agree that the pools should be kept open: but we have to treat this in a responsible manner. We come from the position that we don't want to see anything closed: but at the same time we have to know what the finances are. We have to know the knock-on effects.

"There are two elements: the cost of bringing the pool up to standard, and the on-going revenue implications. Then there is also the question of whether the rate-payers of the city should subsidise admission to the swimming pool. I would say that question remains on the table."

"We have taken quite a lot of flak over the swimming pools issue. But we were not going to promise anything that at the end of the day we found embarrassing to go through with."

Once the architects report is out - and it is expected soon - all eyes are likely to be focused on Coun Galvin and his colleagues, to see which way they are going to jump. Expect some intense lobbying, too.

The former forester, insurance broker, manager of a private zoo and owner of a tourist boatyard says he became a Tory because he thought Conservatism "allowed for the practicalities of life".

He and his colleagues, he says, want to see less bureaucracy, and more choice for the citizens of York. "We're on the side of the residents of York," he said. "We want the best for York with the resources we've got."

Whether that's what the people of York think he and his colleagues have used their new influence to deliver, only time will tell.