Barack Obama last night held private talks with Hillary Clinton after a day in which the former First Lady had been forced to quell speculation that she was trying to force her way on to the nomination as his vice-presidential running mate.

The two candidates, who have fought an intense and sometimes bitter battle for their party's nomination, met in Washington at the home of Senator Diane Feinstein following Mr Obama's evening rally in nearby Northern Virginia. The talks were reported to have been at her request.

Mr Obama later left to catch a plane home to Chicago with his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, saying: "It’s the end of the primary process. They wanted to talk about bringing these campaigns together in unity.”

Just hours earlier, Mrs Clinton had issued a statement, saying: “She is not seeking the vice-presidency, and no one speaks for her, but her. The choice here is Senator Obama’s and his alone.”

Mr Obama swiftly expressed his appreciation for her gesture – following two days in which Mrs Clinton has repeatedly been accused by his supporters of graceless, even churlish, behaviour.

Both President Bush and the Republican nominee-elect, John McCain, have already congratulated Mr Obama on his victory. Mrs Clinton had not. Instead, she declared at a rally on Tuesday night that her 18 million strong army of voters should be shown some respect.

Although Mrs Clinton announced on Wednesday she would endorse Mr Obama at a huge event planned for noon in Washington on Saturday, her delay in conceding defeat had clearly irritated her rival's camp.

So too was the way that some of her most prominent backers on Capitol Hill, including Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Stephanie Tubbs Jones, were aggressively pushing for Mrs Clinton to be given the Number Two slot.

Bob Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus urging them to lobby Mr Obama for Mrs Clinton as his vice-presidential nominee. He said he was doing so with her blessing.

Even some of her allies believe such efforts have been at best unseemly and, at worst, counter-productive.

Mr Obama said yesterday he felt no pressure to rush through his vice-presidential selection process – or pick any particular candidate.

“There’s no decision that I’m going to make that’s going to be more important before the November election. I intend to do it right, and I’m not going to do it in the press,” he said.

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