CONSERVATIVE leader Iain Duncan Smith scored an embarrassing own goal yesterday when he praised Newcastle's football prowess to an audience in the heartland of the Geordies' bitter rivals.

Mr Duncan Smith, a self-confessed Tottenham Hotspur fan, made the gaffe while addressing businessmen in Washington, which is part of Sunderland and geographically closer to Wearside than Tyneside.

He began his speech by praising Sir Bobby Robson and the Newcastle United team, who won an important European Champions League match on Tuesday.

He even seemed confused about where exactly he was in the North-East, saying: "It is a great pleasure to be here in Newcastle."

The Tory leader's comments were described by Peter Deakin, editor of Sunderland fanzine Sex and Chocolate, as a "massive own goal".

Mr Deakin said: "Washington is about 50-50 for Newcastle and Sunderland fans, so it seems he is going around the country alienating half the people wherever he goes."

The Tory leader, speaking at the Rite-Vent flue factory, said: "Let me almost immediately take the opportunity, as I am here in Newcastle, to say congratulations to Bobby Robson - a man I do genuinely personally admire - but also to the team.

"I am sure you all want to say congratulations for the excellent result I understand they had on Tuesday. I wish them well as they progress in the Champions League."

Newcastle United declined to comment on the gaffe.

But Mr Deakin said: "For somebody who wants to be seen as having his finger on the pulse, Mr Duncan Smith has scored a massive own goal. It is shameless. Tony Blair did it when he got in power, saying 'I remember sitting on the Gallowgate', when we all know the Gallowgate was an all-standing area."

Mr Deakin conceded the Conservative leader would struggle to find anything positive to say about Sunderland, who are bottom of the Premiership.

"He could give a bit of consolation to (manager) Howard Wilkinson, I suppose, because he has got the hardest job in football."

They really said it

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH'S gaffe is the latest in a long line of political clangers.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Tory Chancellor, while visiting County Durham in 1995, said: "At Consett, you have got one of the best steelworks in Europe. It doesn't employ as many people as it used to because it is so modern." The works closed in 1980.

And again: "I think Consett is also one of the major centres for disposable baby nappies, diapers as well." That factory closed four years before Mr Clarke made the speech.

Margaret Thatcher once told a meeting: "It is marvellous to be back in Malaya," when she was in Indonesia.

President Nixon landed at a Norfolk air base in the late 1960s and publicly praised "Prime Minister Macmillan". The problem was that it was Prime Minister Harold Wilson who was welcoming him on the tarmac.

A year or two later, Marshal Tito, the Yugoslav leader, arriving at Heathrow, walked straight past Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had his arm outstretched, and shook hands with the baffled chauffeur.

Tory MP Dame Irene Ward once asked a minister who announced that sailors would get new uniforms ahead of female personnel: "How long is he going to hold up the skirts of the Wrens for the convenience of the sailors?"