UF ORDER OF OMEGA

It is not the local elections, the deadline for IRA decommissioning - but the birth of the next Blair babe. The best brains at Downing Street are drawing up Tony Blair's strategy for the momentous event of next month. It is not the local elections, the deadline for IRA decommissioning - but the birth of the next Blair babe. Alastair Campbell, the Number 10 press secretary, has decided that the Prime Minister should not seek to make political capital from the birth of his fourth child - even though William Hague, the Tory leader, has yet to produce a Hague babe, to the consternation of some Tory advisers."We do not want any stunts or anything that could be construed as exploitation of the baby," a senior Downing Street source said yesterday.Since their unplanned forthcoming arrival was announced, Mr Blair and his wife Cherie have been inundated with requests to take photographs of the baby, from newspapers and magazines from Britain and around the world, including Hello and OK. It is believed that they were offered more than £100,000.Under Mr Campbell's strategy, Mr and Mrs Blair will not pose on the steps of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital with their new arrival. Only one official photograph of the baby will be taken and it will be handed to all the media. It has not yet been decided who will take the picture.Blair aides fear that high-profile coverage of the birth would hamper their efforts to shield his other three children - Euan, Kathryn and Nicky - from publicity.

The source said: "At the moment, 99 per cent of people do not recognise Euan when he walks down the street; we are determined to keep it like that."During a visit to Wales yesterday, Mr Blair made clear that he would take some time off work when the baby arrives, although he will not hand over his prime ministerial duties to his deputy, John Prescott. "It's the Third Way," quipped one aide.Mrs Blair, who has made it known she wishes her husband to take his full paternity leave entitlement, will take four months' maternity leave before she returns to work as a QC.Asked if he and his wife had chosen a name for the child, which is due on May 24, Mr Blair replied: "We are in some difficulty because we don't know the gender yet." He added: "Cherie had a scan and I was able to see the picture It's a fantastic thing.". A senior Tory MP, who has accepted a £120,000-a-year directorship from the Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, is facing moves by furious party activists in his constituency to have him sacked. A senior Tory MP, who has accepted a £120,000-a-year directorship from the Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, is facing moves by furious party activists in his constituency to have him sacked. Conservative Central Office is giving its discreet backing to the plan to deselect Charles Wardle amid fears that his link with Mr Fayed will revive the spectre of "Tory sleaze". Allegations by the Harrods boss about Tory MPs being prepared to take "cash for questions" seriously damaged John Major's government.Ironically, Mr Wardle turned down Mr Fayed's request for a British passport when he was a Home Office minister in 1993.

His surprise decision this week to become a director of Harrods has angered some Tory MPs and party members in his Bexhill and Battle constituency. His local critics are angry that the 60-year-old MP made no mention, when he was reselected to fight the next general election in January, that he had been talking to Mr Fayed about the job since last summer. They say the local party was presented with a "fait accompli" when Mr Wardle told it about his new post last month, and reject his claims that it had been fully informed.The move to oust him is revealed in a letter to The Independent today by Alistair Birrell, who was, until recently, the chairman of the Bexhill and Battle Tory association.He calls on Mr Wardle to agree to stand for re-selection again. Mr Birrell said: "This would give members the opportunity to endorse - or otherwise - Mr Wardle's directorship of Harrods, which has come under fire not only from a number of newspapers but, as I am constantly being told on the telephone, from many members of the association". A senior Conservative source at Westminster said: "We will let democracy take its course at local level." A Tory MP added: "Charles Wardle has upset a lot of his colleagues at Westminster It is astonishing that he could take this post. It lets Labour off the hook over packing the House of Lords with 'Tony's cronies' and allows it to point to Tory sleaze."Mr Wardle, who was not available for comment last night, has insisted his new post was cleared with Tory whips and Elizabeth Filkin, Parliament's anti-sleaze watchdog, and said that the feedback from local party activists had been "supportive." Mr Wardle has said: "I will not be required or requested to promote, ask questions, make speeches, or otherwise represent or lobby in Parliament, Mohamed Fayed's private or business interests or those of his family.".

Lingering hopes for a foxhunting ban before the next election were dashed yesterday after too few Labour MPs turned up in the Commons to vote for the measure. Lingering hopes for a foxhunting ban before the next election were dashed yesterday after too few Labour MPs turned up in the Commons to vote for the measure. There was confusion after Ken Livingstone's Private Member's Bill gained a surprise reprieve, then failed to get enough support to ensure the Bill would get enough parliamentary time to get onto the statute book.Mr Livingstone, the independent candidate for London Mayor and MP for Brent East, denied there had been a stitch-up by the Government to stop his Wild Mammals (Hunting With Dogs) Bill.Using a rare parliamentary procedure, Andrew Dismore, the anti-foxhunting MP for Hendon, had successfully thrown out a Tory Private Member's Bill to enable debate on Mr Livingstone's Bill.The Tories said this was done because Government business managers hoped Mr Livingstone would not be in the Commons to open debate on his Bill. Mr Livingstone later insisted there was "no conspiracy theory", adding: "I was approached by a Government whip earlier this week to check that I would be available from 9.30 and I gave that assurance."When I got here at 9.10, I went straight to my office - I didn't happen to see any other MPs so there may have been a suggestion going round I wasn't in the building. So no conspiracy, no threats, just good fortune all round."But Mr Livingstone did not get the 100 MPs needed when the vote on the Bill's second reading came.