Peter urges Plaid Cymru and Lib Dem supporters to ditch their conscience...

... for the greater good (as defined by Mr Hain):

PETER HAIN will tonight make a plea to Lib-Dem and Plaid supporters to lend their votes to Labour in a bid to deny the Conservatives a general election victory.

In a bid to revive the tactical voting habits that helped Labour win three-figure majorities in 1997 and 2001, the Welsh Secretary will say the election will require the public to "take sides".

A party political broadcast timed to coincide with Welsh Labour’s annual conference in Swansea will feature Mr Hain warning viewers that “this is not the moment to start gambling, it’s a time to make serious judgements about the future of Wales and the future of Britain”.

He will add: "I know there are tens of thousands of people in Wales who see themselves not as dyed-in-the-wool Labour supporters but as progressive supporters, who may vote for the Liberal Democrats or Plaid Cymru or the Greens.

"I am not asking them to sign up to every dot and comma of Labour’s policies and proposals, still less to renounce their principles.

"But the truth is that this coming election will be one where we have to take sides.”

If I were a Plaid Cymru or Lib Dem supporter I know where I'd tell him to shove his patronising plea; democracy demands that you vote for the party that comes closest to your own political beliefs.