Just for a hoot I looked for the fuse that comes straight off the ignition.
The book seems to think that it's fuse 'A', but removal of this fuse caused no change or effect at all. It seems to be fuse 'B' in my car. However, putting 12 volts onto this fuse from the battery had little to no effect, all the dash lights pulsed on and off just the same with the indicator running..
Only difference was that when I tried to turn the engine off it kept running!

Guess I either had the wrong fuse, or the contacts beneath the fuse box need cleaning up, or it's just not a 12v+ issue?