SIR Paul McCartney’s former right-hand man admits he might have hit ‘rock bottom’ by volunteering to sweep the streets of Lyme Regis.

Unemployed Lyme-born writer and journalist Geoff Baker is brushing up on his local history in a bid to get back into work.

Mr Baker, 54, was Sir Paul’s publicist and friend for 15 years, until the pair very publicly parted company in 2004.

A rift between Mr Baker and the former Beatle’s then wife Heather Mills was rumoured to be the blame.

Although Mr Baker has since tried his hand at television production and managing a band, he has been unemployed for four years.

He is now moving back to Lyme from Wiltshire to launch a new venture – which he has called Lyme Littery Tours – which will see him giving guided talks on ‘unusual’ aspects of the town’s history, while he cleans the streets.

His plans are in response to the Coalition Government’s plans to force long-term benefit claimants into manual labour.

Mr Baker, who left Lyme when he was 18 and whose mother Primrose still lives in Talbot Road, said: “I want to make it clear that at the moment I am not claiming any handouts or benefits whatsoever and I hope that I never have to.

“But I am one of the long-term unemployed who has been without an income for four years.

“I heard of the government’s new proposals and I thought it might provide me with a job opportunity whilst doing something of service for the community of the town where I was born and raised.”

Mr Baker started his career on the Lyme Regis News in the 1970s and became showbusiness editor of The Daily Star before switching to PR, also representing Linda McCartney, The Beatles, and Oasis.

He admits that volunteering to sweep the streets is a long fall from his previous jobs.

“On the face of it, Lyme Littery Tours looks like I’ve hit rock bottom,” said Mr Baker.

“Maybe I have, in which case it might be handy that I am hoping to get the money together to self-publish my novel Rock Bottom, which is a bit of a romp about the music business and is set in Lyme.”

Mr Baker had the novel turned down by publishers for fear of being sued by the McCartneys – although Mr Baker has always maintained it was not based on his old boss.

Although he has no publisher for any of the five books he has on the go, Mr Baker is optimistic Lyme Littery Tours might excite some interest.

“I’ve been researching a book about the darker characters and bizarre events of Lyme’s history and it is those stories that I shall draw upon for my guided tours,” he said.

His tales will include the town mayor who kept heads on spikes outside his home, the town centre site of the lost gold of Lyme, and the sites of the town’s old red light areas.

Mr Baker will approach the town council for permission to start his guided tours, for which he will charge visitors a reasonable fee.

He added: “I’d like to start doing the tours at weekends through the winter and then develop them when the season starts again next year.”