Guardian wins Weak Diary Story of the Day

The Guardian Diary used to be one of the best things about the newspaper, breaking and pursuing substantial stories of its own.

Those days are a couple of decades past. Even so, an item Hugh Muir gave us today stands out for its vacuity.

Here it is in full:

Historians, meanwhile, continue to be fascinated by our ruling coalition. And they wonder, what other examples are there of questionable figures going out of their way to propel Tories to power? My man in the archives discovers that in 1899, the aspiring Conservative politician Winston Churchill stood as the Conservative candidate in the Oldham byelection. Posters sprung up around town urging electors to vote for Churchill, who was "top of the card" – and would surely be "top of the poll". And who printed and published those posters? One "WE Clegg". Send for the genealogist.