Whisky Galore

The way things have been going for Gordon Brown's Government, you could understand why its Ministers have been driven to drink.

The Ogmore MP Huw Irranca-Davies, a junior Environment Minister, billed us taxpayers £150 for a case of House of Commons whisky.

The whisky was intended as raffle prizes in his constituency. He'll now be paying back the cash after what he calls the indefensible error came to light with the publication of MPs' expenses.

David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, has been explaining how he used a family business to produce leaflets at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £2,000.

He says the work by Newport-based Burrow Heath was done at cost and neither he nor his family profited from the deal.

Other intriguing expense claims include the £100 Justice Minister David Hanson billed us to sponsor a Flint Town United football match. Let's hope local voters don't feel as sick as parrots after that one.

We're still working our way through the receipts. What's striking is how many MPs, having billed us for digital cameras, appear to have charged us hundreds of pounds for PR photos of themselves.

A tale of two conferences

Gordon Brown has been touring the BBC studios here in Manchester this morning. (I say studios, I'm talking about a few partitions in a large exhibition hall that used to be a station).

He looks and sounds more relaxed than for some time. Perhaps it's the challenge of getting to grips with a global financial crisis or the fact that this conference has gone far better for the Prime Minister than he dared to hope.

Ruth Kelly's resignation as Transport Secretary ("to spend more time with her family" - copyright Norman Fowler) will mean a Cabinet reshuffle and one is expected at the end of next week.

One reshuffle decision he has to take is whether the time is right to merge the Wales Office with its Scottish and Northern Irish equivalents. Would Paul Murphy be a suitable "Secretary of State for the Union" or will his Cabinet comeback end after nine months?

If the latter happens, and Jim Murphy (no relation) gets the job, Gordon Brown would be left with a Cabinet without any Welsh MP, barring unexpected promotion for David Hanson or Kim Howells. Rising star Kevin Brennan remains a junior Education Minister.

One option might be to have a Welsh Minister of State allowed to attend Cabinet when required but is would be a brave decision for the party of Kinnock, Foot, Bevan and Callaghan to have no full-time Welsh voice around the Cabinet table.

Merger might appease English anger at "special treatment" for the Celts but would win few friends elsewhere. Devolution to Belfast is not yet complete, another factor that may yet further delay the long-trailed merger.

Mr Brown denied that there were any "political issues" behind Ruth Kelly's decision to leave the Government despite well-informed speculation that she was one of four Cabinet Ministers said to be considering resignation as part of their unhappiness with Mr Brown's leadership.

It has been a strange, some might say weird, conference. The conference has shrunk from the corporate jolly of years gone by, as the Tories in Birmingham prepare for an influx of lobbyists keen to grease up to a "government in waiting".

Here in Manchester, there are fewer stands than previous conferences and the average age of the average delegate appears to have risen substantially in a party that has lost half its members since winning power. That should worry Labour.

The journalistic cliche of the week is to say that there have been actually two conferences taking place in Manchester.

There's the loyalist rally in the hall, where Ministers deliver rather over-the-top endorsements of the Prime Minister and delegates give the PM and his wife the pop star treatment.

Then there's the conference taking place on the fringe, in the bars and hotels inside the secure zone, where Ministers convinced that Mr Brown will never turn Labour's fortunes around bare their souls to hacks.

Both conferences merge on the final day with the singing of The Red Flag, words helpfully provided in the conference newsletter.

Birimingham beckons for the travelling media circus but not before a brief visit home to spend some time with my family.

Trying to be helpful

Justice Minister David Hanson may be a Blairite but as far as I know he's still loyal to Tony Blair's successor in Downing Street.

So I guess his reaction to last week's by-election disaster - "It's very disappointing but Gordon Brown has got to stay" - shouldn't be taken out of context by mischievous hacks.

Harriet Harman, holding the fort while the PM's away, offered her support with a positive: "I can recognise that I don't think the British people have seen the best of him yet as prime minister."

Perhaps Labour's slogan for their autumn conference in Manchester should be "the best is yet to come"?

Crisis? What crisis?!

No, this isn't a Peter Hain fund-raising event, even if some of his friends do appear prominently in the photograph.

North Wales MPs got together to promote the addition of Snowdonia Cheese on the menu in the Members' dining room.

Chris Ruane said, "It is important to us that we promote welsh produce here in London and more specifically here in the Commons."

MPs have their own favourites. Betty Williams, Martyn Jones and Ian Lucas are fans of "Black Bomber", Chris Ruane, David Hanson and Mark Tami prefer the 'Red Devil' - and Albert Owen's choise is 'Green Thunder.'

Snowdonia Cheese also supply Ginger Spice, Pickle Power, Purple Passion and Amber Mist - the latter is a medium cheddar laced with whisky in an orange wax.