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A comedy star spoke of his love for North Wales today as he brought a touch of “knowing me, knowing you” to the campaign trail.

Steve Coogan was in Wrexham to give his backing to Labour candidate Ian Lucas, who is campaigning to return to Parliament on June 8.

The Alan Partridge star said his best-known creation would have little time for the candidate, although he reckoned that was good news for Mr Lucas.

Asked by the Daily Post how Wrexham compared to Partridge’s home cty of Norwich, Mr Coogan pointed out that the radio DJ was fictional and he had never lived in Norwich, but added that North Wales is close to his heart.

(Image: Ian Cooper)

“I’m a northerner at heart so I’m always going to favour places that are closer to my heart,” he said.

“I’ve got friends in Llangollen, Llandrillo and Ruthin. They’re places I have lots of friends because I was in college in Manchester for a number of years, so I have a network of friends in North Wales.”

Asked what Alan Partridge would think of Mr Lucas, he said: “Well, Alan is a bit of a xenophobic, small-minded, conservative, so he probably wouldn’t have much time for Ian.

(Image: Ian Cooper)

“But if Alan Partridge likes you, that’s not something you want to shout about, and if Alan Partridge dislikes you, that means you are probably doing something right.”

Addressing a large crowd of admirers in the town centre, the actor said: “I’m very happy to be here to support Ian. He has been a fantastic constituency MP.

“If you speak to anyone who has had any dealings with him, you will realise that he is on the side of the people of Wrexham.

“His record shows that and the Tories don’t have a record of looking after people.

“But they do have a very good record of looking after big business, and the people foot their bills.

“When the Tories get elected, their first priority is to look after the people who wrote them those big cheques, so their priority will always be business before people.”

He added: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating and Ian is a very good pudding.”

Mr Coogan, who has been a critic of the press in relation to phone hacking, went on to tell the enthusiastic crowd, many of whom shouted his famous catchphrases at him, that Mr Lucas had held the media to account after the Leveson enquiry.

The Prime Minister visited Gresford last week, and Mr Coogan’s visit today shows how close both the Conservatives and Labour think the competition will be for this once safe Labour seat.