By recent standards, this was a pretty quiet weekend.

William Hague spent Sunday morning with his wife Ffion, while Tony Blair abandoned the battle bus for a family day at Chequers.

Indeed, the only baby he kissed yesterday was his son, Leo - who was lucky enough to celebrate his first birthday in the middle of an election campaign.

Mr Blair said: "He doesn't care whether I am Prime Minister or not, whether I'm famous and my picture is on the telly and in the papers..."

But it was not all ice cream and jelly for Labour - there were one or two embarrassing incidents as well. The first party pooper was Helen Brinton, the MP for Peterborough. She managed to grab plenty of coverage for Labour in the Sunday newspapers.

There was a "domestic dispute" at her home - prompting a visit from

the police. They were contacted by neighbours who reported shouting and the sound of breaking glass in the early hours.

Yesterday, she was forced to say sorry, describing it as "the sort of thing that happens every once in a while in every family".

The second problem child was the party's latest recruit, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. It has emerged that Geri, the surprise star of Labour's first election broadcast last week, won't be voting for Mr Blair after all. In fact, she won't be voting for anybody because she is not even on the electoral register.

A spokesman for the singer said this was a conscious decision taken for security reasons.

But the Tories were ruthless: "This is all spin and no delivery," said party spokesman Iain Duncan Smith. "She's crossed over to Labour and caught their disease."

Mr Hague had problems of his own - caused by a man 83 years older than baby Leo.

Sir Edward Heath, the former Tory Prime Minister, said the party needed another election defeat to force it back to the centre. This is not really what Mr Hague would have wanted to hear, given his desperate position in the opinion polls.

Updated: 13:38 Monday, May 21, 2001