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At yesterday's lobby briefing Carwyn Jones was asked by one of my colleagues about the UK Conservative Party's attitude to further devolution to Wales.

The Counsel General said something about the Assembly government being more concerned about the attitude of the Conservatives to the present settlement, let alone to any further devolution.

What could he have meant?

Was he alluding to a story that had tongues wagging in Cardiff Bay yesterday - one about a breakfast meeting that took place in Westminster a few weeks ago? It involved the great and the good from the world of higher education in Wales and MPs from across the political divide.

The story goes that the Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan asked a question about the future of Welsh universities: would they be better off if they were not devolved? What did the Vice Chancellors think? Perhaps they could come back to her. In other words, to the ears of some of those present, she seemed to be suggesting the Conservatives, if in power, would consider repatriating higher education. In other words they would consider un-devolving it, taking it back under the wing of the UK Government.

Good story...up to a point.

The Welsh Conservatives say nothing of the kind is on their radar. Yes, the Shadow Welsh Secretary who may, after all, be Welsh Secretary in the not-too-distant-future has asked for a report on higher education in Wales and the challenges it faces but that's no more than a politician doing her homework.

There's an alternative - and much more benign explanation of course. Was the Shadow Welsh Secretary simply musing about the acknowledged funding gap between Welsh and English universities? It could all be in the intonation of the voice - which is somewhat difficult for outsiders to discern, particularly as the meeting was held under the Chatham House rule.

Politicians in Cardiff - none of whom were at the meeting as far as we know - are adamant that Cheryl Gillan's implication was clear, and for then, not in any way benign.

I've spoken to people who were at the private meeting. They either didn't hear the comment themselves or had only heard the discussion about it afterwards. Eventually, last night, I was given the name of another academic who'd been there and who had heard the comment and on asking Conservative MP David Jones whether repatriation was really being considered, was told something along the lines of 'You bet'.

I rang thim, to be told that he hadn't, in fact, been at the meeting at all. He was happy to talk through issues around funding and the future of the body that funds higher education but that, significant as it is, isn't the same story at all.

David Jones hasn't commented and the Welsh Conservatives simply say there are no plans to take responsibility for Welsh universities and higher education institutions away from the National Assembly.

Why were hands being rubbed with glee in Cardiff Bay yesterday? Because this story - filtered through however many Chinese whispers - would seem to confirm a narrative that's been growing over the past few weeks and months: that attitudes in the Conservative Party at UK level towards devolution "are hardening" the closer they get to the levers of power. It also indicates that the three other parties in the Bay are coming to see this as the Achilles heel of the Welsh Conservatives too.

The Western Mail have run the story on their front page this morning: you can read it .

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