The Conservative Party conference is taking place in Manchester this week. I know this because of the twin-set and tweed lot I spotted hanging around Piccadilly this morning (alongside a confused looking David Dimbleby).
That the Tories have chosen Manchester as the host city for their last conference before a General Election says something about their state of mind. As an historical hotbed of socialism and radical thought – and with only one Tory MP in the connurbation – Manchester’s selection hints at a level of confidence and swagger that has been missing from the party during the wilderness years from 1997 to date. Picking Manchester is a statement of intent about how the Tories intend to reach out of their comfort zone and, in so doing, win the election. At the same time, so the argument goes, Manchester should be flattered by the attention and the “economic benefits” the conference brings with it.
On the other hand, it’s worth pondering whether it really matters where the Conservatives hold their conference. No policy will be made this week, the average Mancunian is kept apart from proceedings by a heavily guarded ring of steel and the event is staged entirely for the benefit of television. You could hold the conference on the Isles of Scilly and it wouldn’t really make much difference to the half-baked pronouncements about dole scroungers, Broken Britain and the rest of the dross that emanates from David Cameron’s mouth in the direction of readers of The Sun.
Let’s not kid ourselves. The Tories are outsiders and Manchester is their Butlins. They’ll be here for a few days and then they’ll disappear into the countryside. The only lasting impact of Manchester on these people will be as a source of misguided jokes about pigeon fanciers and coal in the bath. Tories go home.
The Conversation {2 comments}
Well put. And it’s not even normal Tory voters that come here – it’s back-stabbing, arse-licking career politicians and networkers (and, yes, some nice people too). I am trapped inside the conference for work: it feels a little surreal and quite unMancunian.
I’m fascinated by the Tories’ strategy of continually running down the country.
Now, I’m not blind to the problems in the UK, but when a guy who is likely to be the next leader of that country spends all of his time laying into it you have to wonder exactly what repercussions there may be.
And who’d've thought the Tories could come up with someone who generates more antipathy in me than Howard, IDS, Hague and Major put together.
I take some consolation from the sense that there’s no real warmth or enthusiasm for the Tories. They’re simply reaping the benefits of the inevitable shift away from an admittedly-shagged-out government.
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