Boris Johnson has arrived in Liverpool to make his personal apology to the city.

Johnson, the shadow culture minister and editor of the Spectator, was ordered to the city by Michael Howard after his magazine described residents as wallowing in "mawkish sentimentality" after the murder of Ken Bigley.

Johnson will not cooperate with city council plans that he should publicly apologise in the presence of councillors.

He is expected to meet journalists from local papers and radio and television stations but is thought likely to avoid the national press.