Signs of renewed confidence from the Conservative Party in Liverpool
Last night the City of Liverpool Conservatives held a dinner at the Hilton hotel.
So far so normal you're thinking. Not quite. It's worth pointing out that 150 people turned up. A few years ago it would have been unthinkable for the Tories to organise such a gathering.
Even taking into account that we are just weeks away from the General Election and the dinner was held to raise funds to fight seats across Merseyside, it is still a sign of renewed confidence from the party that has spent so long in the wilderness in Liverpool.
The message from chairman Tony Caldeira was that the Conservatives are back in town - they're even taken an office in Liverpool One.
Cushion entrepreneur Mr Caldeira, and shadow home secretary (who is also shadow minister for Merseyside) Chris Grayling have been working to rebuild the party's presence in Liverpool over the past couple of years.
They know they're not going to win a seat in Liverpool in the parliamentary elections. But they have high hopes of winning a seat on the city council, Woolton to be precise.
If the Conservatives can prise the seat from the Liberal Democrats then they truly will be back in town, and it could put them in an influential position if there is a hung council after May 6.
Oh, and there's the matter of their ten target seats either side of the Mersey that need to be won to give David Cameron a decent working majority.
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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So.....rich right wingers get together in Liverpoool for posh dinner. This is news?
Is this a sign of the Tories coming back in Liverpool, or nationally?
Were the 150 guests party members, eagerly participating in a fresh Merseyside Conservatism, or were they simply paying business guests keen to get 5 minutes with the man who might next be Home Secretary given that the Tories finally look like they might form a Government?
Because there is a crucial difference between the two.
The sign of good journalism is someone who sees the facts presented to them, and decides to investigate a little and see if the facts stand up. There isn't a hint of good journalism in this article David - you've been fed a press release, and you've reproduced it uncritically.
The reality is, David, that the local Conservative Party remains very small. They campaign mainly by posting letters (they haven't the foot soldiers to deliver them).
And of course they've taken offices - they're rich!!!
After the unbelieveable damage the last Tory government did to the city, they've got some nerve even trying to campaign in Liverpool.
The Tories shouldn't be trusted either locally or nationally.
Hi mischief,
Thanks for the comment. There was no press release. I was at the dinner, just like I have attended Labour Party and Liberal Democrat meals over the last few months. Of course there were business people there hoping to speak to Mr Grayling. But one salient fact is that the Tories have increased their majority in Woolton. In 2007, the Lib-Dems won the seat by 1,227 votes, but in the last election in 2008 they only won it by 517. Each time the Tories were second.
Blimey, they must have given you some expensive wine last night then, to make for such a glowing write up. It wouldn't be the first time a Post journo has been well treated into submission by the Tories in Liverpool.
So go on Dave, dish the dirt: Was it 150 party members eagerly anticipating the election, or was it 10 party members, and 140 business bods eagerly buttering up a potential future minister?
And further, just to be pedantic - the Tories have no majority in Woolton. They're still some 500 votes behind, which doesn't sound much, but in local election terms should still equate to a fairly secure seat (albeit not safe).
Do some maths, work out how much of a swing it would take for a Tory win there, and come back and let us know. The Tories are targetting the seat because its the only seat where they have any realistic opportunity.
In sum, I don't see any of this equating to a Tory revival in Liverpool, which is how you've presented this story.
Hi mischief,
A quick look on the councilâÂÂs website shows that a 6.7% swing would be good enough to see the Conservatives take Woolton. Given that the trend has seen the Conservatives to eat into the Lib Dem majority, and the fact there will be a higher turnout because all signs are that the General Election will be on the same day as the locals, then you can see that winning Woolton is not unrealistic for the Tories. Here is the link to previous council results http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Council_government_and_democracy/Elections/Previous_elections/index.asp
eople in Liverpool are aware of how the race is going and know the Lib Dems are the only ones that can beat Labour. Tories havenâÂÂt had a Councillor in the city since 1998. True, in 2008 they had a high point but even then they still were far away from being a decent challenge.
It might be possible that due to LabourâÂÂs total failure to run the country people would consider Tories as an option. However, the two horse race isnâÂÂt between Labour and Conservatives, it's between the Lib Dems and Gordon Brown's Labour Party.
In Wavertree for instance the Tory's betting odds are 100/1 whilst the Lib Dems are favourites at 8/11; the Tories are dead in Liverpool!
Two key points emerge from this blog entry that are clearly indisputable to those with an ounce of common sense- The Tories did indeed wreak horrendous damage on Liverpool in the 1980s and Mr Bartlett's journalism gets no better with experience!
Im confident Tories on GE day will win Woolton, which is why ive bookmarked this entry from David and will post again congratulating him on his foresight on May7th
Apparently there are some Lib Dems who think they might hold St Michaels
stop sniggering at the back!
Thank you David. I for one find this interesting. I love living in a city with no Conservative representation, but I am not so stupid as to think it will stay that way forever, didn't the Tories run Liverpool City Council during the last century?
It is obvious that the LibDems in Liverpool have long since been the repository of any Tory votes there are out there. So of course we would expect them to be clambering to downplay any suggestion of a Tory revival, it would be directly at their expense.
I have noted the slow increase of Tory support in some of the leafier wards in the city and I think you are right to suggest there is a chance of a Tory gain in Woolton. A friend of mine who lives there says the candidate is quite plausible.
I find myself in one of those very hard places, an increase in Tory support in Liverpool would hurt the Libdems and help Labour (locally and nationally), but that way lies a very slippery slope that I don't wish to take. My enemy's enemy is most certainly not my friend, not in this case.
I am not at all surprised that 150 Tory Party members came to dinner in the city, they would have come from Southport and the Wirral as well as Woolton and Mossley Hill, surely. But I don't like the thought of it, I must say. It feels a bit like when Christopher Ecclestone realised the daleks were not quite finished after all!
It seems mischief was proved right in Woolton ward as the Tories slumped in that ward and city-wide. Chris Gayling didn't fare too well either!!!