By Shaun Ley BBC political correspondent

You won't find John Cleese in Swansea at the Welsh Labour Party conference. At least if he is here I haven't seen him yet.

But he made a guest appearance on the front cover of the South Wales Evening Post on Thursday night.

For journalists it was too tempting. Five times anti-war campaigners tried to get Iraq onto the agenda here. Five times they were rebuffed.

The reason? Foreign affairs aren't devolved and so the Welsh Labour party rules mean they can't be discussed.

In other words: "Don't mention the war". Hence John Cleese appearing on the front of the newspaper, a tribute to this Basil Fawlty moment.

Don't mention the war

Outside the conference hall they talk of nothing else. Well, almost.

What they do discuss are the forthcoming elections for the national Assembly of Wales and the fear that voters will be thinking of the war when they go to the polls on 1 May.

"Yes people want to talk about the war," says Wayne David, the MP for Caerphilly.

But he says Labour delegates and the voters are equally concerned about bread and butter issues.

Welsh dissent

The problem for Labour in Wales is much more pressing than for the party in London.

The electoral threat comes from Plaid Cymru with a straightforward anti-war message.

"It's an added complication," admits David. "The stance which they've adopted about the war is a populist one. But frankly unsustainable."

But could populist prove popular even with Labour's own activists?

Wayne David says he has received 100% backing from his local party members after he supported the prime minister's policy in the vote in Westminster on Wednesday.

But in Swansea there have been plenty of signs of dissent.

On Thursday night a retiring member of the assembly, Richard Edwards, said Tony Blair could not remain Labour leader if he went to war in support of the United States.

He even suggested that Mr Blair might be arraigned on war crimes charges.

And most party members issue such strong rhetoric.

Although the Welsh conference cannot discuss Iraq, plenty of the Westminster MPs who voted against Tony Blair on Tuesday can be found at the conference.

Albert Owen, the MP for Inys Mon, is normally a loyalist.

Or as he puts it himself: "I'm not a usual suspect!"

But he says his decision to rebel reflected "very strong feelings in my constituency and I believe on an occasion like this you put your constituents before your party".

Local elections 'struggle'

For the activists who'll have to get Labour's vote out in the May elections, war could overshadow what they believe has been a good record by the assembly.

Grabbing a cigarette break in the bar, Sheila Barcroft from Bridgend says "we've got to struggle and we're going to have to fight for every seat".

But she insists party members are buoyant.

Christine Richardson from Kenfig Hill in Glamorgan has family reasons for being caught between domestic and international concerns.

A retiring member of the assembly said Tony Blair could not remain Labour leader if he went to war in support of the United States Blair warning over terrorism

Her son is a major on stand-by for deployment for Iraq.

But right now she'd rather Welsh voters thought about her 79-year-old mother who lives on an income of �92 a week.

"Since Labour has been in power," Christine says "she gets a free bus pass, she doesn't have to pay, she's absolutely delighted."

Combined with the free TV licence and the winter fuel allowance provided by the government in London, Christine says her mother proves Labour has a record of achievement to fight on in the forthcoming elections.

"For the first time for as long as she can remember she's got money left in her purse at the end of the week."

Of course there is one person in Swansea who can and did mention the war today - Tony Blair.

That irritates anti-war campaigners like the MP for Blaenau Gwent, Llew Smith.

He says the Welsh party should be consistent, tell Mr Blair that the conference rules do not permit him to talk about Iraq in his speech.

"You've got to shut up on this issue. But I suspect they won't do that."

Smith adds "as the red skin once said about the pale face - they speak with forked tongue".