Peter Hain is no stranger to speech controversies

Attacks on "American style free marketism" and the country's "unilateralism" were dropped from a speech - which had already been circulated to journalists.

The Wales Office would not comment on reports that the re-write had been ordered by the Foreign Office.

The edits were made before Mr Hain delivered the Jean Monnet lecture at Aberystwyth University on Thursday night.

This is not the first time Mr Hain has had to alter his message.

In June, the prime minister and chancellor intervened to get him to drop a passage from another speech which suggested top earners could pay more tax to ease the burden on middle income families.

In the latest incident, it seems that the original draft had not been cleared by the Foreign Office before it was released.

It went out by mistake. In the end he decided to deliver a different speech Wales Office

The unchanged text of this speech had warned: "The US possesses overwhelming military might but US unilateralism would reap a bitter harvest.

"...American-style free marketism may have delivered higher productivity and growth in the US but at a cost of poor public services, low social standards, weak communities, rising violence and high poverty.

"That's not an agenda for a progressive Europe."

A Wales Office spokesman called the speech "an early draft".

"It went out by mistake. In the end he decided to deliver a different speech."

He also said Mr Hain had changed the script to deal with what his audience would be interested in, focusing more on the single currency and the European constitution.

The Jean Monnet lecture is given in honour of one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

Mr Hain, a former Minister for Europe, is seen as one of the government's most pro-European members.