Diary: Hit or Miss... Howard on the move

The Conservative Party's decision to allow a BBC Newsnight crew to accompany Michael Howard on a tour of marginal seats in the South-West backfired badly. Broadcast on Monday night, Jeremy Paxman chatted to party supporters. When asked why it wasn't doing well, one blue-balloon-carrying woman responded 'I'm not political'. And when Paxman quizzed passers-by on the streets of Falmouth, some couldn't say who Howard was. In Paxman's words: 'The quiet man (IDS) has been replaced by the invisible man.'