Alex Salmond is not a man who likes to surrender the limelight - not even to Britain's first lady. The prospect of having the Prime Minister's wife intruding on the same campaign trail as himself was seen by the First Minister more as an opportunity than a challenge. Mr Salmond does not give up headlines easily, and certainly not to an unelected opponent.

However, the last thing he wanted to concede was any hint of irritation that he was certain to be upstaged in Glenrothes yesterday. To have done so would have appeared unchivalrous - the last thing Mr Salmond wanted to be accused of when dealing with a woman the British public appear to have taken to their hearts.

“She's very welcome,” he said of Mrs Brown. “But I'd rather debate with her husband - at East Fife football ground perhaps, it would be a full house.”

The only event likely to tempt the Prime Minister to the Methil club's Bayview stadium is likely to be a fixture with his beloved Raith Rovers on November 8, two days after the by-election, when he will be hoping for a weekend of double celebrations.

Mr Salmond, however, is devoting his energy to ensuring that Mr Brown has a throughly miserable weekend.

Commentators have accused the First Minister of losing his sparkle. Yet, even if it took more effort than usual, the old swagger was back as Mr Salmond made his way around the Kingdom shopping centre in Glenrothes.

It took almost an hour for his entourage to travel less than 100 yards as he shook hands and chatted to every voter he could find.

“I've shaken the hand of God,” one voter shouted loudly after meeting the SNP leader.

It was the stuff of spin doctors'dreams. But it soon turned to dust. It transpires that they do irony in Fife. “Do you want to know what I honestly think?” Edward Houston, 71, said when the cavalcade had moved on.

“I won't be voting for the SNP - everything they say is a promise but it will never happen,” he confided.

Mr Salmond's charms worked more effectively on the young mothers who beamed as he fussed over little bundles in their pushchairs. “What beautiful eyes she's got,” he said of Alexandra, 5 months, in a line reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood, before turning his attention to the next passing buggy and Ryan, aged 1.

Ryan's mum, Claire McGale, will vote for the SNP. “I hope they win here. The gas and electricity prices are becoming ridiculous and I'm worried about the state of the schools - they don't seem to have any money.”

Mr Salmond had an answer. If the threat of the SNP in Glasgow East resulted in the UK Government freezing fuel duty, the advance of the Nationalists in Fife will have a similar effect on fuel costs, he predicted.

Mr Salmond is planning several more visits to the constituency before polling day, but without Mrs Salmond.

There was no prospect of the First Minister's notoriously media shy wife, Moira, following Mrs Brown into the campaign fray, he said. “Moira takes the view that one politician in the family is more than enough.”

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