ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, the Prime Minister's press secretary, has ordered the word "socialist" to be expunged from a Labour Party television broadcast to be screened during its annual conference next week.

FORTY-FOUR Labour MPs have openly challenged Tony Blair by signing a declaration that Labour must remain a "democratic socialist party" and reject a centre-left coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Sir: The objections to Sinn Fein keeping Semtex under the negotiating table are petty when compared with the massive violence Nato has threatened if it does not get its way in the Paris "negotiations" over Kosovo.

Removing the right of the membership to select candidates could set a precedent for Westminster

THE RETURN of Sinn Fein to the cross-party talks on Ulster offers "the best prospect for peace" in Ireland, Tony Blair will tell Gerry Adams today when the two men meet at 10 Downing Street.

Downing Street last night damped down hopes by the Irish government and Sinn Fein leaders, who met Tony Blair yesterday, of an early apology over Bloody Sunday and a fresh public inquiry.

Betty Boothroyd, the Speaker of the Commons, is to meet the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein party leader, Martin McGuinness over their demands for an office at Westminster.

As delegates converge on Brighton this weekend for new Labour's annual conference, deep in the South Wales valleys, the centenary of the birth of one of the giants of the movement is being celebrated.

Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, has started court action challenging the legality of MPs being asked to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam and Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, concluded their first face-to-face meeting in 18 months yesterday, saying they hoped the impetus towards a new peace process would continue to move forward.