Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Paul Offer has proved he has a sense of humour. With the impending general election, the battle for Chester has commenced and Mr Offer is already wheeling out the big guns. His first choice of celebrity politico was none other than Tory 'loose cannon' Boris Johnson who views himself as a mischief maker and self-deprecating rogue whose rapier wit fares so well on TV comedy Have I Got News For You. ROISIN GAD EL RAB accompanied the editor of The Spectator on an 'educational' visit to the city.

TAKING a tour around Chester with Boris Johnson is like taking an old history professor out for a walk. Half mumbling to himself in Latin - half looking to educate those around him, the MP wandered eyes agog, absorbed in his surroundings with a mixture of fascination and a total lack of self-awareness.

From the moment he was dropped off at the Town Hall, the personable troubleshooter began trying to recall his many visits to Chester in his usual vague but somehow intellectual manner.

'Chester is looking beautiful as usual,' declared the politician as well-known to the common man for his stints on BBC's Have I Got News For You comedy show as for his contribution to politics.

'I used to come here a lot but I can't remember why.'

With each step over the city's cobbles, Boris' concentration span jumped, one minute testing his entourage on their history knowledge, the next remembering he was present to 'sell' Paul Offer to the people.

'Paul Offer, he's the original offer you can't refuse,' he told anyone who would listen, without even a hint of embarrassment.

Then lapsing into Spanish: 'Is this the centro historico?'

It's not easy to keep up with a man whose mind not only races at a million miles an hour but whose tongue roams the world while he's at it.

'I'm getting a lot of this amazing Elizabethan structure,' he said pausing to take in a black-and-white building before visiting an admirer in Starbucks.

All the while, people gathered to see the man with the shock of white hair bumble his way through the streets like the 'honey monster' in a suit.

Reaching the junction of Northgate and Eastgate Street, the ever dutiful guide Paul Offer pointed out Chester's historic Cross.

'So what happened at The Cross?' Boris asked, only to be met with a slightly blank look from Rugby-born Mr Offer.

But his PA jumped to the rescue, saving the day by reeling off a series of satisfactory facts and figures.

Turning 180 degrees to look at the Eastgate Clock, Boris was full of admiration.

'It's one of the most fantastic clocks I have ever seen - in a hotly contested field,' he said.

An unusually large number of young Conservatives materialised along the journey, attracted by Boris' shining locks blowing in the sub-zero wind.

Boris was congratulated for everything - but he misinterpreted the attention, claiming it was Paul who had attracted the onlookers.

'Paul Offer's chances are fantastic. He's well-known in Chester. A man just recognised him now. Quite spontaneously.'

The knowledge that Paul was actually identifiable to his would-be constituents gave Boris the confidence to cement his endorsement.

'The people of Chester have a fantastic chance to get a first rate guy with Paul Offer. He's obviously well clued into local issues and that's what people want. People in Chester can get an MP that takes part.'

When asked if he had ever had any encounters with Chester's Labour MP Christine Russell, Boris replied: 'Who?' but was quick to apologise once he had learned she was holding the seat to which his guide aspired.

A quick stop at Waterstones bookshop on Eastgate Row gave Boris the chance to buy a copy of his own book for a future auction.

And making the most of an opportunity, Boris denied the cash came out of Tory funds, saying Paul Offer had paid 'out of sheer generosity and the goodness of his heart'.

While checking customers had actually planned to pay for the books they had asked him to scrawl on, Boris regaled fans with tales of times past.

'I learned my Welsh course with Marcher Sound (now MFM),' he said, remembering his experiences of the local radio station.

'I fought Clwyd South in 1997 but Clwyd South fought back. I used Marcher Sound Welsh tapes and a fat lot of good it did me. I declaimed to the people in Wrexham Maelor but afterwards a chap told me they didn't understand a word.'

When asked if he was planning to return to Have I Got News for You, he replied: 'I don't know, they haven't invited me.'

As he made his way back through the streets, followed by teens taking pictures on their mobile phones, Boris had time to address the 'Liverpool' issue for a Granada reporter.

'When I went to Liverpool everyone there was incredibly friendly,' explained Boris. 'I won't say they shared entirely my point of view, some of them did but it was the media who were very tough, as you would expect.'

'I think I did what I had to because I made it absolutely clear what I was apologising for and what I was not apologising for,' he continued. 'It was quite complicated in the end. There were points in the editorial that I was quite happy to say until I was blue in the face. I loved going to Liverpool. It was worth doing.'

As we reached the end of our journey, Boris gave an appraisal of our very own Chester Chronicle: 'A fantastic newspaper but a bit too balanced,' he said.

And finally escaping into Pastarazzi on Grosvenor Street to address an audience of eager Tory party members, Boris left with a typically contradictory assessment of his visit: 'I have learned an awful lot about Chester - a lot of which I already knew.'