Conservative HQ to be set up in Leeds to show it cares about the red wall and divide - but why Leeds?

[chomalungma]

Yes - Leeds does have some Tory MPs

None of them changed in the election.
Part of Leeds has been left behind - but as a whole Leeds is a major city that's doing very well.

There are plenty of smaller towns in the North where people went to the Conservatives.

So AIBU to think that CCHQ should go to one of those places?

Unless CCHQ have a complete misunderstanding of the North and they just wanted a major city with all the art, culture, restaurants, transport links and facilities that they expect in a major city?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54397171

@ChaChaCha2012

Isn't it a second HQ, so they're staying in London but will shove a few up in Leeds to pretend they care?

If I were a betting woman, I'd say there was at least a fair chance of that!

Those towns won't stay Tory though. It was a Brexit election. My mum and dad are in an area of Huddersfield that voted Conservative in 2019 but was Labour before that

I think the plan is to keep as many Tory as possible this is to show those new voters that they won’t abandon them

Mmm, they know the votes were borrowed, as it were. So they want to try and do things to keep them. I'd imagine this is part of that effort.

Not sure I'd want to be a Tory based in a small northern town when the realisation of what Brexit is actually going to mean hits.

I mean, they were suggesting York at first, so I’m assuming this is a compromise...

The number of suggestions for northern towns on here shows that Leeds makes sense. If it was a smaller northern town, then would even more of the “why chosen town”. With Leeds it half makes sense at least because of the transport links.

@TheMarzipanDildo

I mean, they were suggesting York at first, so I’m assuming this is a compromise...

I thought York was suggested for moving parliament to, whilst the House of Parliament are refurbed?

Errol I was thinking more in terms of where they'd be "welcome" as opposed to where is politically expedient. I don't see why York would be such a silly idea, though. York Central is the sole Labour seat in North Yorkshire, York Outer has been held by the Tories since year dot, and there's a huge amount of tension between the older "locals" (who resent the namby pamby, bleeding heart, cycle-advocating council) and the younger incomers - mainly students who have stayed on after their degree. I've always thought it was ripe for conversion if anyone cared to try.

As for Leeds, it's become so ultra-woke in recent years that some of the policies (particularly those around women's rights to speak and the whole Holbeck shitshow) have almost gone so far left that they've come out the other side. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a growing minority of people who wouldn't mind a change of management about now.

The whole of North Yorkshire is Conservative apart from York Central, though. I think the narrative about Yorkshire being dyed-in-the-wool Labour is pretty selective.

In general up north the urban areas are Labour and the suburban/rural/posher parts are Tory.

A lot of the urban north held their nose and lent the Tories their vote to 'get Brexit done' because Labour would have tried to stop it.

@ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN

Those towns won't stay Tory though. It was a Brexit election. My mum and dad are in an area of Huddersfield that voted Conservative in 2019 but was Labour before that

I think the plan is to keep as many Tory as possible this is to show those new voters that they won’t abandon them

These northern towns were struggling and left behind before Brexit and Covid (because of Tory policies like centralisation which New Labour continued and also austerity), so what's going to improve for them now? There will be no money to throw at them and there'll be no EU to blame.

I'd be amazed if these places (Workington/Grimsby/Stoke/Burnley et al) voted Tory again. The election was essentially a second referendum.

I didn’t say the Tories would help them

But it’s a good move to show that they are concerned what have we heard for years and years outside the M25 government(s) show little interest

They are thinking of the next election already

Yeah, it's possible to see what they're trying to do here whilst also being entirely cynical about it. And tactically I think Leeds makes the most sense.

Wakefield?

No, thank you. Wakefield may have returned a Tory MP last time but Labour lost the seat rather than the Cons winning it - the former MP's derision of a candidate who'd been parachuted in didn't go well with voters who remember her being parachuted in from Islington by New Labour. And have you taken a walk along the bottom of Kirkgate recently? It stinks of weed, chain smoking and poverty.

We might get some road improvements out of it, I suppose. The A61 Leeds to Harrogate and Leeds to naice St John's and Sandal is pretty snarly.

@MissPoldark

I assume they just wanted a major city with good transport links to London

Leeds isn’t even on the ECML, I would say there are other northern cities with better transport links and quicker trains to London if that was a factor.

Leeds isn’t even on the ECML

I think you'll find it is.

While I’m sure we would all really like to see the Tories, or anyone in our political establishment, set up shop somewhere where they can experience the whole reality of what they’ve done to Britain, it’s a bit unrealistic. Leeds is fairly central and it has the facilities. It’s a step in the right direction, hopefully.

What would worry me is that red light district. Is that part of the attraction for them? Women are getting more and more shat upon day by day.

As a city, Leeds is a huge business centre. It's the second biggest city for finance and legal services in the country, second to London, and third for manufacturing. It has decent transport links and, if looking at a map of the UK as a whole, it's pretty much central.

I think the question isn't "Why Leeds?", it's "Why not Leeds?"

So basically it’s a city that is as similar to London as you can get, without actually being London. How convenient, and complete with all the opportunities for corruption. I think I see your point now, op.

It’s a step in the right direction, hopefully.

I wouldn't even go that far, I see no reason to imagine it'll be anything other than a sop. It's just that with that in mind, Leeds looks like the most sensible choice for them.

It has decent transport links

... as long as you don't need to travel to any other parts of West Yorkshire in a hurry.

@Pelleas

It has decent transport links

... as long as you don't need to travel to any other parts of West Yorkshire in a hurry.

Which is pretty unlikely in this particular instance...

Which is pretty unlikely in this particular instance...

Good point.

Part of Labour’s HQ is in Newcastle, ostensibly to show they’re not London focused. In reality it’s the low paid administrative work that is there, much cheaper to do that in Newcastle than London. I imagine the Tory Leeds office will be the same.

[quote chomalungma]Yes - Leeds does have some Tory MPs

None of them changed in the election.
Part of Leeds has been left behind - but as a whole Leeds is a major city that's doing very well.

There are plenty of smaller towns in the North where people went to the Conservatives.

So AIBU to think that CCHQ should go to one of those places?

Unless CCHQ have a complete misunderstanding of the North and they just wanted a major city with all the art, culture, restaurants, transport links and facilities that they expect in a major city?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54397171[/quote]
Well yeah, a large political organisation needs a certain level of infrastructure to run efficiently and safely.

They could cause a lot of disruption to a smaller town

Is it likely to be large, do we think? They're not moving HQ there, just having another no doubt secondary branch.