Politician Mo Mowlam drew crowds of fans when she took centre stage on the first full day of the Hay literature festival in mid Wales.

The former Northern Ireland Secretary travelled to the tiny Welsh market town following the publication of her autobiography, Momentum, in which she claimed the Labour party "knifed her in the back."

She took part in a discussion with BBC Radio Four's Today anchor James Naughtie, whose book The Rivals exposed a sometimes divisive yet indivisible relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The tiny border town is packed with bookshops

Around 60,000 literature fans and celebrity-spotters are expected to swell the tiny border town's 1,300 population in the week of Hay-on-Wye's 15th book festival.

And it's not just an event for book buffs. As well as rubbing shoulders with big-name writers, visitors can also meet the producers of the Harry Potter movie, or enjoy live street music.

Ms Mowlem's head-to-head with James Naughtie was billed as the crowd-puller of the day.

The highly popular former MP's autobiography provoked a storm in Labour ranks when published recently.

'Whispering campaign'

In it, she accused Peter Mandelson of campaigning for her job at the Northern Ireland Office while she was still in the job.

And she claimed the party machine engineered a whispering campaign to discredit her.

The festival in the market town, which has just 1,300 people but 39 bookshops, has become one of the most important fixtures in the UK literary calendar.

In 2001 Bill Clinton flew in to speak at the event, which this year focuses on the themes of global conflict, medicine and religion.