THEY were crying into their beer in the pubs of Richmond yesterday - but the tears came from uncontrollable laughter.

The mirth was caused by the tipplers trying hard to picture a hard-drinking William Hague polishing off pint after pint.

As the town's MP and Tory leader he is usually granted a fair amount of respect, but Mr Hague's startling claim that he sank 14 pints a day as a teenager has been greeted by a strong measure of local scepticism.

Far from being completely shaken and stirred by the revelation, Yorkshire's hardened drinking community is taking it with more than a pinch of salt.

One landlord has even thrown down the gauntlet to Mr Hague, saying if he can prove the 14-pint boast to be true in his pub, he can have it all on the house.

Mark McCulloch, at The Ship, on Richmond's Frenchgate, said: "If he wants to drink 14 pints in a session in Richmond, then he is very welcome to do it here.

If he can't do it though, I won't be paying for him - he might get 50 per cent discount."

He added: "He doesn't really strike me as a lager lout. I thought he was doing quite well in the polls as well. I wonder which spin doctor dreamed this one up."

Meanwhile, at the Bishop's Blaize on Richmond Market Place, the very mention of Mr Hague's alleged guzzling capacity induced hysterical laughter.

Paul Hardie, 40, said: "He'll seriously regret saying he could down 14 pints in a day. You can't even imagine him stood here with half a shandy in his hand.

"I bet he's going to take some stick in the House of Commons as well.

"They're all going to be waving pint glasses and beer mats at the poor man."

And he has already been proved right. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - who admitted downing his ale "quite fast" as a young man - yesterday described Mr Hague's boast in an interview with GQ magazine as an exaggerated "fisherman's tale".

However, Mr Hague's wild claims have found a tiny degree of support. Sue Cherry, landlady of the Traveller's Rest at Skeeby, said: "He was supposed to be a bit of a lad when he was younger, so who knows?

"Things have changed and people can't imagine him doing it now, but perhaps he could back then."

l Bookmaker William Hill last night offered odds of 14-1 against Mr Hague proving his drinking prowess in public. Spokesman Graham Sharpe said: ''A number of punters have asked us whether they could bet on Mr Hague backing up his claims, so we have obliged.''