The golden set pay homage at the court of Sir James

Britain's newest political party arrived in Brighton yesterday, not quite sure if they were attending an opening night of the latest bash in the season or a gala performance by Sir James Goldsmith and the crusaders of his Referendum Party. Nevertheless, they insisted they were all there to regain Britannia's supremacy.

Brighton is used to political gatherings. The town has partied with every party, but yesterday there was a detectable frisson of excitement. In the Metropole Hotel, appropriately overlooking the waves of the English Channel, passes were handed out to the world's press anxious to learn what the Referendum Party was claiming to be the most important question our nation faces: Who governs Britain, Brussels or Westminster?

Nearby, in the tea-room veranda of the Grand Hotel, honoured guests and VIPs of Sir James, the world's eighth richest man, filed past and acknowledged their excitement in attending the party premiere.

It is crucial for a political party to be attacked by its opponents. John Major duly obliged when he dismissed the Referendum Party as a "fringe organisation" and said it would not damage the Tories at the next General Election.

However, Sir James, who breezed into Brighton yesterday, insisted it would be up to the people to decide the status of his party.

The VIP list was enough to whet the social appetite of Europe's finest paparazzi photographers, as one unfazed political editor, clearly annoyed that another Party conference had been added to the yearly schedule, said: "I've hardly seen this place so animated since the days when lesser celebrities like Mrs Thatcher trod on the carpets of the Grand Hotel."

As all good parties should, the Referendum Party unveiled its first campaigning poster yesterday claiming "Britannia doesn't rule. OK?". The man who will chair this weekend's conference, former Tory Party Deputy Chairman, Lord McAlpine, and the classic stiff-upper-lip actor, Edward Fox, took to the back street lanes of Brighton to unveil the Party message. Some parties have taken years for their message to be lost: the Referendum Party nearly lost its message within minutes as failing glue resulted in the poster nearly falling down.

Nevertheless, Lord McAlpine showed his experience, sending a shot across John Major's bows: "I think John Major and his Cabinet should be scared." He claimed a larger number of people wanted a referendum: "It's the mood of the country".

With only one policy, namely a commitment to hold a referendum on Europe's sovereign position within the European Union, or, as most delegates call the EU, the super national mega state (SNMS).

Inside the Grand Hotel, talk was only of the SNMS. Those talking included such guests as the Right Honourable Alan Clark, Christopher Booker and the author, Frederick Forsyth. Mr Forsyth said: "I'm here only as an observer. I am not a joiner, but Lady Carla Powell has asked me here for dinner and any red-bloodied male would walk over hot coals for her."

Mr Forsyth also admitted he had been worried about the rise of the SNMS for two years.

Other guests who enjoyed Lady Powell's lavish dinner, which featured foie gras, tortellini, baked turbot with coriander and ginger and a panache of autumn vegetables, included newspaper proprietor Conrad Black and his wife, journalist Barbara Amiel, Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild, John Taylor QC and the Marquis of Worcester.