Key stuck in ignition

[BEJinFbk]

No disrespect, but DO NOT USE KNIFE POINTS!
As I posted, the button fits quite snuggly into the console.
If it gets marred, pitted or scraped up by a sharp object,
more friction will be introduced into this messed equation.
The button needs to move as freely as possible so that it
can return to it's fully upright and extended position.

[dhancock]

OK I ran out of patience as I'm pretty well absorbed with restoring a 76 classic Mini so I took the easy way out and took it to my local friendly indie. As suggested by several posters the whole thing was gunged up and there was a lot of sand in there [well I do live at the coast] and all the WD-40 was doing was making a nice grinding paste. Anyway to cut a long story short to remove the console, clean everything up and reassemble was just short of R400 [ say $50] so I'm quite happy. Oh, and the mechanical side of the ignition which was a bit iffy probably due to someone hanging a huge bunch of keys in there is now working very smoothly. I didn't go into detail in case they had forgotten to add it to the bill. Sorted.