OK, I'll be more accurate, it's a bodge.
Having replaced my ABS pump/ECU yesterday, we bled the brakes today, and got everything working. After walking into town to get some anti-freeze(I know I had some, somewhere
), I left the car idling while I torqued the wheelnuts correctly. When I got to the NSF, there was a spreading puddle of ATF dripping out of the end of the chassis rail.
It turns out that the lower hose on the PAS reservoir had a number of cracks that didn't survive the handling that was necessary to do the job, and was leaking. Badly.
Due to various boring circumstances, I cut off the short piece of hose that was crimped to the hard line(careful use of a Dremel), and have replaced it with a length of garden hose as it was all I could find of a suitable size. A couple of hose clamps, and I now have non-leaking steering ready for the MOT first thing Tuesday morning.
So: yes it looks like the terrible bodge that it is; no I don't expect it to last long; no I don't recommend it as a 'repair' unless it's unavoidable; yes, I'm going to get a length of suitable hose to make a proper repair; yes, I'll probably do that this weekend.