IT WASN'T the most auspicious of starts.

Michael Howard was greeted by wind, rain and drenched camera crews when he arrived in Bournemouth yesterday for his party's annual conference.

Boscombe was the Tory leader's first stop for a brief walkabout, arriving at a former car showroom site in Palmerston Road with local police chief Inspector Mark Kelly and the party's prospective Bournemouth East candidate Tobias Ellwood.

Mr Howard smiled for the cameras but refused to give interviews, posing for pictures outside a derelict toilet block before walking in the rain through the deserted shopping precinct. His first official engagement was a low-key affair, with only a handful of curious passers-by taking cover in shop doorways to catch a glimpse of the Tory party leader and his soaked entourage.

A bored punter in William Hill bookmaker's looked out as Mr Howard passed, sheltering under a huge blue and white Conservative party brolly.

At the Sovereign Centre a few onlookers stopped to see what all the fuss was about while a homeless man yelled out: "Howard welcome."

After walking through a rundown alleyway for another photo shoot, the Tory leader was whisked away to the conference Highcliff Hotel.

Mr Ellwood recalled how he had invited Mr Howard to visit Boscombe.

"I thought it would be an ideal place to show him. It is a wonderful area with tremendous potential."

Inspector Kelly said: "Mr Howard seemed very interested in some of the policing problems we have in this area.

"I told him about the unregulated influx of criminals we have from other areas and, how often, it is only when they commit more crimes that we realise they are actually here."

First published: Oct 4