Voting for a New Britain: Campaigns Briefing 14 Days to Go

RHODRI MORGAN, who saw the leadership of the Welsh Labour Party snatched from under his nose by Alun Michael, went walkabout in Pontypridd with his arch-rival.

How did Mr Morgan (pictured) get on with Mr Michael? "Once a contest is over, it's over and that's it," he said. And Mr Michael on Mr Morgan: "The campaign sometimes got a little fractious. But we are a journalist's nightmare. You won't get us knocking lumps out of each other."

THERE WERE cries of "sell-out" at the Scottish TUC conference as delegates shied from outright condemnation of private funding and management of public services, the so-called Private Finance Initiative. A freeze on new PFI projects was shelved, delegates merely backing a leadership statement expressing serious concern about the impact on workers' pay and conditions.

DAFYDD WIGLEY, president of Plaid Cymru, promised Ron Davies, former secretary of state for Wales, a crate of champagne if Labour won pounds 1.8bn in European aid for West Wales. The EU awarded the aid on 26 March but Davies is still waiting for his bubbly.

LORD STEEL of Aikwood chairs the Liberal Democrat press conference pondering an NOP poll that put him equal with Sean Connery as possible head of a Scottish republic. "We're both on 7 per cent," he said.