Yesterday was not a good day for Boris Johnson.

The shadow arts minister was in Liverpool to apologise for a leader article in the Spectator magazine, which he edits, that criticised the city for wallowing in "mawkish sentimentality" over the death of Ken Bigley.

He had a number of low moments, including being pictured wearing a red nose on the front page of the local newspaper under the headline "Who is this clown?".

Bigley's brother called in to a radio station to say he was a "self-centred, pompous twit" who should get out of public life.

The Times concludes that "somehow by the end of the day, however, Central Office lackeys had managed to cheese off almost everyone, from local radio station newsrooms to the leader of the council".

Johnson had to return to London in the evening where he was handing out prizes to children in a film event entitled "Learning from our mistakes".