Hain returns to his roots - with a new message

Peter Hain speaking on the Liberal Democrat conference fringe

It is 46 years since Peter Hain first visited a Liberal conference (Brighton, 1969) - or assembly as they were known then - and 39 years since his last one (Llandudno, 1976).

But today the former chair and president of the Young Liberals was back at the Liberal Democrats' conference in Bournemouth.

The former cabinet minister assures me he is not one of the senior Labour figures allegedly contemplating joining the Lib Dems rather than continue in Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.

Instead, he was here as part of a campaign for a new Act of Union that he would like to see create a federal Britain. Mr - soon to be Lord - Hain said it was time to move on from the piecemeal devolution settlement he helped to create.

Without a new settlement, he said, the future of the UK was threatened.

The Constitutional Reform Group's members include Lord Lisvane, the former House of Commons clerk Sir Robert Rogers. The group is also holding fringe meetings at the Labour and Conservative conferences.

And as for Tim Farron's offer of a home to disaffected Labour members?

"It's not a very enticing offer," he told me.