PRIME MINISTER IN GRIMSBY TO BOOST TORY CAMPAIGN TO RETAIN SEAT IN COUNCIL POLL

                                               

The PM - happy to be in Grimsby

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson was in Grimsby this afternoon, hoping his visit might boost Conservative chances of retaining the seat for Park ward in  today's North East Lincolnshire Council by-election.

As well as chatting to townsfolk, he also took the opportunity to visit businesses such as Hilton Seafoods where he helped staff to pack products before dubbing the premises a 'fishcake El Dorado'.

It is not known if he took any fishcakes back to 10 Downing Street for his wife, Carrie, to cook for his tea.

At his side for much of his to visit was Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici whom he promoted to parliamentary private secretary earlier this month as a reward for her loyalty when some colleagues were calling for him to step down in the wake of 'partygate'.

During the morning, the PM visited RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, where he met airmen and reiterated his concerns over the situation on the Ukrainian border where Russian troops are ominously massed.