Risky rural voters

By BBC News Online's political correspondent Nick Assinder

With the General Election still expected on 3 May, the opposition parties are desperate to follow Labour's lead with spring conferences to whip up their troops for battle.

Labour's rally in Glasgow set the tone with blatant electioneering by Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown.

William Hague and Charles Kennedy were ready to follow suit in Harrogate and Torquay respectively.

But then the foot-and-mouth crisis erupted and saw all sorts of restrictions placed on movement around the countryside.

Inevitably it was suggested that maybe the Tory and Liberal Democrat conferences might be cancelled.

The Tories, in particular, pride themselves on the number of rural voters in their ranks and would normally have expected scores of them to leave their farms and villages to travel to Harrogate.

Phil Willis: Conference call

The fact that this could prove a risk was not lost on the party's high command but they were eager to continue with the event.

So letters were sent around suggesting that representatives in foot-and-mouth areas should not travel to Harrogate - probably the first recorded case of a political party urging its supporters to stay at home.

But this wasn't good enough for the town's Lib Dem MP Phil Willis who demanded the conference should be cancelled.

"It must be the height of hypocrisy to urge the government to act swiftly to stop the spread of this deadly virus and then deliberately encourage thousands of rural delegates to attend a party conference, " he said.

Very responsible - presumably he has also asked Charles Kennedy, himself from a rural Scottish constituency, to cancel the Lib Dem conference in two weeks' time.

Mum's the word

Travellers on the train to Leeds which was also taking representatives to the Harrogate conference were treated to some great, unintended entertainment from Dr Charles Tannock, a Tory whip in the European Parliament.

He had a particularly clear speaking style and, by the end of the journey his fellow travellers knew just about everything they needed to know about him - and more.

The most tantalising exchange came, however, when Dr Tannock received a mobile phone call from one of his MEPs.

His side of the conversation went something like this: "Ah, Dan, you're speaking to him today aren't you?

"Well be very careful what you say. We are desperate to keep the lid on this one."

So much for whips being the essence of discretion.

And if anybody knows what the lid was being kept on, please put me out of my misery.

Not so new

Tony Blair's desire to appeal to disillusioned Old Labourites has already seen some subtle shifts in his rhetoric - lots of talk nowadays about the party's grand history and so on.

There have even been suggestions that the "New" bit of the party's title will be quietly dropped during the campaign.

If that means no more soundbites about "We were elected as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour", that will be reward enough for many.

Fundraiser: Peter Mandelson

But there has been a more concrete sign that the leadership is falling out of love with the title.

This year's party membership card starts with the sentence: "The Labour party is a democratic socialist party."

Last year's read: "New Labour is a democratic socialist party."

The party logo, which does include the dreaded word, has been reduced to a tiny and virtually unreadable blob on the front of the card.

One left winger declared: "A small victory but we are used to clutching at straws - it's the red rose next."

Fundraising frenzy

Twice-disgraced former minister Peter Mandelson has been leading the campaign to raise funds for the victims of the Omagh bomb.

He recently announced that he has donated a sum to the fund himself.

It was the cash he earned from "that" article in the Sunday Times in which he tied himself in knots explaining his role in the Hinduja affair.

The full extent of his generosity can now be revealed - the sum was precisely £10,000.

Just think of the curtains and other soft furnishings that could have bought for his flat.

Taking a back seat

Since his resignation as Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Mandelson has been doing his best to operate as an ordinary backbencher

Just the other day he made a contribution to Northern Ireland questions in the Commons and paid a glowing tribute to his successor, John Reid.

It was all too much for Labour backbencher Martin Salter who waited until Mr Mandelson had finished before muttering in a stage whisper: "Well that's him finished then."

Technical hitch

The Tories are having great fun with claims that computer giant IBM installed Labour's election campaign software at a knockdown price before later winning a lucrative contract to provide Whitehall with a similar system.

Anne McIntosh: Received surprise memo

A leaked memo from Labour's technology advisor Lord Mitchell talks about getting the company to do the Millbank work for "next to nothing."

Unfortunately, the technological wizard isn't as up to speed as he probably should be.

He intended to send the memo to colleague Lord McIntosh - instead he sent it to Conservative MP Anne McIntosh.

Gossip

If you have any political gossip or information on what our MPs are up to, e-mail Nick Assinder (all mails will be treated as confidential).