Headquarters in London

[Workingman]

Hindquarters in Leeds

The Conservatives have announced that they are to establish a northern HQ. The announcement, on the eve of conference, is clever as it sends out a positive message to the North as well as other places outside London.

Leeds is also a clever choice. It is on the doorstep of the Red Wall seats that turned blue in the last GE To have senior Tories in place locally is a good move for them. Also Leeds, unlike Manchester or Liverpool, has never moved to either extreme. Politically it is very middle-of-the-road. Since the war it has swung to both Tories and Labour with quite a few periods of NOC. It is also fairly well represented by LibDems, Greens and independents.

It will be interesting to see where the new offices are to be located and how accessible they and the workers will be to the public..... and also how long it will last.

It also gives the other parties something to think about regarding how they connect with the wider population outside of the Westminster / London bubble. That is something which has long been needed.

[TheOstrich]

It will be interesting to see where the new offices are to be located and how accessible they and the workers will be to the public..... and also how long it will last.

The BBC showed a brief shot of what was presumably the location; it looked like No.4 Something Square, a not-that-old, possibly 3-storey red brick building set back behind wrought iron gates.

[Workingman]

Ossie, it could be in the 'Services' area - Law, Accounting, Education etc. - somewhere like Central Square or Princes Square. They are both next door to the railway station with high-end modern apartments nearby.

I think it is obvious that I do not support the current Conservatives, but that doesn't mean everything they do is worthless, and this is one example of a good idea. Other parties would do well to sit up and take note.

The LibDems, for example, are supposed to be strongest in the S. West so it would be in their interests to set up a major office in somewhere like Bath or Exeter.

An alternative strategy would be to set up shop in a party's weakest area. For Labour that might be in the South or S. East, but away from London to lessen its influence, say, Horsham / Crawley way.