Has the Tory Party lost its northern soul?

The promises fell like northern rain as delegates in manchester listened to new Tory co-chairman oliver Dowden’s keynote speech at the party’s conference last week.

‘hiring great new staff to build the team to win...recruiting 50 campaign managers — right now. Beefing up by-election capability. mapping battlegrounds,’ he trilled.

Yet one pledge went unmentioned. Dowden (pictured) didn’t refer to last year’s vow to open a new Tory hQ in the North.

Dowden’s predecessor as chairman, Amanda milling, had boasted at 2020’s (virtual) conference: ‘We owe it to the millions of people who put their faith in us with their votes to get back to the business of delivering for them. The best way we can do that in the midlands and North is to open a headquarters in the heart of the Blue Wall.’ The Tories later announced that this honour would be bestowed on Leeds: a deft political move, given the Tories won three of the eight parliamentary seats in the West Yorkshire city in 2019. But a year on from that bold promise, there was not a peep last week about the new hQ — despite the conference being held in manchester, just 45 miles from Leeds. one Tory minister told me the project is off, while another said the party is deciding between two buildings in Leeds. ‘either way, it’s a shambles,’ the minister harrumphed. ‘A year ago we couldn’t talk about it enough. Now the cat is out of the bag that we’ve done nothing in 12 months. We’d hoped people wouldn’t notice. ’ Clearly the Tories have a way to go to prove their northern soul.