Tory Mets fans?

Michael Howard MP, leader of Britain's Conservative opposition, is known to be an an avid baseball fan. As the Daily Telegraph reports:

He is fired with enthusiasm on the subject of the New York Mets. Sitting on a sofa in the corner of his Westminster office, the sun streaming in through immaculate windows, he does an impression of the 12-year-old Brooklyn boy who once told him, bursting with pride, that the Mets were: "The woist team in baseball, Mister!" The accent is not quite Rory Bremner quality, but it demonstrates effort.

Actually, the article is worth reading. Are the Tories trying to position themselves as champions of grass-roots sport?