Wrong number causes a few red faces .sx George Parker's WMN Political Diary .sx PADDY Ashdown normally has a very slick media operation , but on one recent occasion a wheel came off the smooth moving PR machine in truly embarrassing style .sx Highly efficient press officer , Olly Grender , set up a hotline to Paddy on the night of the Kincardine and Deeside by-election , so that journalists could get immediate reaction to the expected Liberal Democrat victory .sx The telephone number was duly circulated to the ranks of the Press Gallery , only for Olly to realise in a moment of sheer terror that she had given out the wrong number .sx Fearing that nobody would be able to contact the party leader on this historic night , Olly called the number she had given out , to see if calls could be diverted to Paddy's office .sx The voice on the other end of the phone took the wrong-number mix up very calmly , and assured Olly that he would arrange for the late-night calls to be transferred .sx The relieved press officer was very grateful and asked out of curiosity to whom she was speaking .sx " This is Ian Lang , Secretary of State for Scotland , " came the reply .sx Anniversary celebrations .sx OVER the weekend , the South West's longest serving MP - Robin Maxwell-Hyslop - celebrated the 31st anniversary of his victory in the long-forgotten Tiverton by-election of 1960 .sx It will be the last such anniversary the Tiverton MP will celebrate at the House of Commons .sx He will be standing down at the next general election on account of his worsening asthma condition , which he says is partly triggered off by the heavy smoking of his Westminster colleagues .sx Strange idea of helping .sx RUPERT Allason , the espionage expert and MP for Torbay , tells me of the time he was making his way in the world of politics , and was chosen to fight the unpromising iron and steel seat of Kettering .sx It was the 1979 general election , and Rupert was out on the campaign trail in a particularly rough housing estate in the gritty steel town of Corby .sx To help him on his way , Rupert's father kindly offered to bring some of his friends to help campaign for him , although it was a gesture that the aspiring MP came to regret .sx He overheard the following monologue on the doorstep :sx " Good evening sir , I'm sorry to trouble you while you're dressing for dinner .sx " I'm the former Greek Ambassador to London , and I'm calling on behalf of Rupert Allason who is standing at the election .sx " I can't say I know him frightfully well , but his father plays a very decent game of bridge at White's Club most evenings , and if he's anything like his father , Rupert would probably be worth supporting .sx " .sx Rupert says he quickly intervened and found a slightly less demanding role for his father's chums during the rest of the campaign .sx He has passed on this little gem for inclusion in a new book , 'A Funny Thing Happened .sx ..' , a book of Conservative anecdotes compiled by Sir John Cope MP and priced pounds10 .sx Feeling the chill .sx MATTHEW Taylor , Britain's youngest MP , is becoming strangely absent minded for a man of his tender years .sx Readers may remember the time that he arrived in London on a Monday morning carrying only a suit and a pair of beach shoes , and had to walk to the nearest shoe shop to complete his parliamentary outfit .sx Now he tells me that he went to the annual poppy day parade in Truro on a bitterly cold November morning without an overcoat .sx The only option facing him , as he shivered on the freezing streets , was to put on the anorak he was carrying with him .sx Fortunately , he resisted the temptation , remembering the furore that surrounded Michael Foot's decision to wear a donkey jacket to the Cenotaph , whilst leader of the Labour Party .sx Police concerns mean we pay the penalty .sx Richard Cowdery's WMN FA Cup Diary .sx THE DIARY , impoverished as ever , wishes someone would give it a pound for every time it hears or reads the phrase " the romance of the FA cup " on this weekend of the tournament's first round - the stage of the competition at which Fourth , Third and this year , two Second Division clubs make their entrance .sx By any reckoning , there would be at least pounds12,50 in the kitty come Monday morning , even despite the quintessential romantic nature of the world's most envied domestic knock-out football competition having been dissipated by the introduction of penalty shoot-out .sx This year , ties that remain knotted after the conclusion of extra-time in the first replay will be decided not in open play , but from 12 yards :sx for the first time in the FA Cup's distinguished ( and romantic ) history , a team will be able to claim th'owd tin pot without winning a single game of football .sx The FA's arm has been twisted by the police who , after years of managing quite adequately to cope with second , third or even fourth replays at a few days' notice , have now decided they need at least 10 days to prepare themselves .sx This in an age of rapidly declining hooliganism and decreasing crowds , too .sx While it might be unfair to raise the point that the police at St James' Park on Saturday were impotent to prevent handfuls of yobbos from twice encroaching the pitch to fling tea and no sympathy in the direction of Alan Ball despite having had four months to prepare themselves , the rule change does raise the significant question of who runs the national winter game .sx Clubs are told by the local constabulary how many officers are needed to patrol a game and how much it will cost them .sx If they do not play ball , they will not play at all :sx the police will refuse permission for the match to be staged .sx The notion that the police exist to serve the public is a fast disappearing one .sx Fans give ideas little support .sx THE paying football customer , who provides the sport with as much annual income as all the sponsorship deals put together , gets a pretty raw deal all round for his or her loyal support , financial and otherwise .sx The Football Supporters' Association , an organisation with a voice of reason that continually has to shout to make itself heard , has published the results of a survey of fans which reveals that the game's custodians are wildly at odds with the person on the terrace .sx Nearly two-thirds of supporters want penalty shoot-outs banned , period , with three-quarters of that number favouring a natural finish to a tied tie - nearly half were in favour of a sudden-death finish ( playing until the next goal ) , a method which the Diary has long advocated .sx There was also strong backing for making referees professional , a suggestion which has already been vetoed by clubs involved in next season's FA-run Premier League .sx Predictable , this , when you remember 'Bunter' Kelly's infamous admission that he did not care that a majority of supporters were against the formation of the Premier League in the first place .sx Interestingly , there was also overwhelming support , however , for the tougher stance against the professional foul - 80 per cent backed the in-operation extension to include deliberate hand-ball - while a staggering 91 per cent demanded the yellow card for players who dive or feign injury .sx Third time lucky for drawn sides .sx DESPITE the desire to limit FA Cup ties to a maximum of two games , the Diary can reveal that at least one match in this year's competition has already gone to a third - the third qualifying round tie between Hampton and Tonbridge .sx Tonbridge , leaders of Winstonlead Kent League , were on the verge of going out at home in the first game until two goals in the last 10 minutes earned a replay which they eventually won 3-0 , but not before the first attempt to stage the second game ended in fiasco .sx With 10 minutes to go , Hampton were 2-1 up when two floodlights blew out , shrouding a corner of the pitch in darkness .sx After a 20 minute delay , the somewhat appropriately named referee Barry Knight abandoned the game , at which point the lights flickered back into action , too late for Mr Knight to go back on his decision .sx Had it not been for Hampton's subsequent demise , it was a situation which might have appealed to the London side's biggest fan and benefactor , comedy writer Alan Simpson of Galton and Simpson fame .sx Silent movie says it all in road row .sx Robert Jobson's WMN Cornish Diary .sx THOUSANDS of words were spoken and written during the great hullabaloo over a pounds28 million road in Mid-Cornwall but for me a silent movie said it all .sx The video of the intended nine mile route , rejected by county councillors last week after six months of raging controversy , was shot from a helicopter .sx It represented a first in the annals of Cornwall County Council and , given a similar set of circumstances in the future , I trust it will not be the last .sx Taken by Surrey-based European Air Charter , specialists in this field , at the request of the council , it left no-one in any doubt about what was being proposed , for better or for worse .sx Having been deluged with facts , figures and opinions at all hours of the day and night by pressure groups , elected members were able to focus on what was termed the corridor of interest .sx Presented with a bird's eye view from the helicopter , they were able to follow the nine mile route from the A30 at Bodmin along the A390 to St Austell and assess the scheme's potential impact , with the aid of a superimposed road .sx It is debatable whether the video , costing several thousand pounds , swayed minds at such late hour but at least the council could not be accused of any cover-up .sx Indeed , in the event of further multi-million pound roads being proposed for Cornwall , a helicopter video should again be compulsory viewing for those involved in making the big decision .sx Too controversial for politicians .sx IT does not pay to pontificate on new roads and how many lives they might save and how many jobs , if any , they might help to generate .sx Note how many of Cornwall's politicians , mindful of an imminent General Election , kept their heads well down on this one .sx The route affected three constituencies and therefore at least nine candidates but most chose not to express any view on its merits .sx Restormel Borough Council's Liberal Democrat development chairman , Cedric Burdon of Roche , did not however hold back .sx On hearing of the County Council's rejection move , he described it as a blatant disregard of the future needs of the St Austell community .sx Now who has disregarded whom during the past six months ?sx There appears to be no shortage of candidates .sx One could say that the needs of those who endure the noise and aggravation of living on the existing main road at St Blazey have been disregarded by those fortunate people who do not .sx Most of Mid-Cornwall's parish councils opposed the preferred route and so did a majority of Restormel's development committee .sx They claim to have been disregarded by Restormel's leaders .sx And then we come to Truro County Hall where a majority of elected members have decided to disregard the professional advice of highly paid and qualified road engineers who have spent three years finding and evaluating the best route .sx Instead an optimistic working party of councillors will be set up to find alternative solutions in a matter of months .sx The engineers' lips remain politely sealed but their white-faced , incredulous expressions leave one in no doubt about how they feel .sx We await the working party's findings with interest .sx Forward action .sx COUNCILLORS were not the only ones to heave a huge sigh of relief when the vote had finally been taken at Truro on the pounds28 million proposal .sx For the local pressure groups involved , BRAG , LARD and FORWARD , it was also the end ( or was it ?sx ) of an emotionally exhausting ordeal .sx BRAG , St Blazey Road Action Group , and LARD , Lanhydrock Against Road Development , were naturally elated .sx FORWARD , Friends of Residents , Work and Roads Development , deflated .sx