After 15 days of living off crumbs, the Liberal Democrats finally became the centre of attention yesterday.

But it was not a half-baked policy announcement which got noses twitching - it was a bomb scare.

Yet, even when sparking a major security alert, the Liberals remained polite and understated. Because it turned out not to be a package of deadly explosives after all.

It was some homemade chocolate and hazelnut biscuits.

The drama unfolded shortly after 9am - bang in the middle of the press

conference merry-go-round. Huge chunks of Westminster were cordoned off and 60 people were evacuated from the party's Cowley Street headquarters, where the package had been left. Police sent explosives experts to the scene, but closer inspection revealed only tasty-looking biscuits, carefully baked by a supporter.

A party spokesman joked: "I'm afraid we had to call in the scone squad.

"The package was addressed to Charles Kennedy and we weren't expecting it. But it turned out they were from a well-meaning voter who wanted him to have something to munch on the campaign trail."

The Tories, whose HQ is just around the corner, bravely pressed ahead with their scheduled press conference.

Central Office fell just outside the police cordon and they wanted to discuss a (tax) bombshell of their own.

The Tories had uncovered an EU document suggesting the harmonisation of tax and VAT across Europe (tax and Europe are the party's two favourite topics and they were very excited).

The document was circulated and all the "explosive" bits were flagged up by Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo. It could only mean one thing, said Mr Portillo. Higher taxes and VAT on kiddies' clothes.

But some brave hacks decided to actually read the thing for themselves. Sure enough, there was talk of tax harmonisation. But what was that bit on page nine? The EU actually wanted a commitment to reduce taxes, it said.

Perhaps the Tories had not spotted that section. Or at least hoped nobody else would.

Updated: 16:44 Thursday, May 24, 2001