£2m subsidy lures 2008's Tory Conference to Birmingham

Tonight's Birmingham Mail is reporting that a £2m subsidy has almost certainly won the 2008 Conservative Party Conference for Birmingham.  Birmingham City Council - run by a Tory-LibDem coalition - apparently calculate
that the wooing of the Tory conference will generate £25m for the local economy.

Birmingham replaces Bournemouth after Francis Maude's fury at last year's passes scandal.  The party will see the decision as part of its commitment to a region with lots of crucial marginal seats.

Conference-goers will probably pay a premium for the decision.  Accommodation costs in city locations tend to be higher than in seaside resorts.

8.30am update on 31/1: I am reliably informed that the monument pictured above was destroyed by fire a few years ago.  It has not been missed by anyone but a few of the Labour ideologues that erected it when they ran Britain's second city.

Comments

[Andrew Woodman]

Central location near plenty of marginal seats. Seems a good idea to me (esp as it's only half an hour away)

[Margaret on the Gullotine]

A brilliant result. Long may we continue to take Conference round Britain's vibrant cities, rather than (as with Labour & LimpDums) "End of the Pier" in decaying dumps.

[Henry Edward-Bancroft]

A very welcome decision. much better location for all concerned. We should, as we did with Manchester, use it as an opportunity to get hundreds if not thousands of activists onto buses and canvassing in neighbouring seats.

[Anon]

I think this is a fantastic decision - bringing the Conference to the centre of the country!

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

Excellent news!

[matt wright]

Good move, well done.

Matt

[Richard]

Margaret on the gullotine...

Think you will find that Labour had it's conference in Manchester. Don't think describing Bournemouth(solid Tory)and Brighton (potentail gains) dumps.

[Zorro]

Conference-goers will probably pay a premium for the decision. Accommodation costs in city locations tend to be higher than in seaside resorts.

No doubt the rank and file will stay away in droves, but isn't that what Cameron and Maude want?

From what I remember of my days as a Tory conference-goer and from what I know of Birmingham budget hotel facilities I would think the decision would be a disaster.

Hope not too many of the old dears get mugged in the centre of Brum.

[Praguetory]

I'm sure I'll be able to put a few Tories up. Zorro, you can piss off.

[Henry Edward-Bancroft]

I might try and shack up with a uni student for a week...where's the netball team?

[Adrian Owens]

Taking the conference to an urban centre is a good move. Let's hope that Liverpool follows soon, but looking forward to my trip down the M6 :)

[Cllr Iain Lindley]

A good move. Spring Forum in Manchester last year was an excellent event and I am sure Birmingham will prove an excellent host.

[Annabel Herriott]

Now if Birmingham would do us the honour of having a stall at blackpool, we can find out whats what, and whats cheap, and book it 12 months ahead. I'm not proud! Book the train early as well, bound to be lousy parking, leave the car in the garage for safety, jobs a good un.

[Andrew Woodman]

Zorro, I hate to get personal on here but your posts are becoming very tiresome. Do you have a positive bone in your body?

[Aaron]

Zorro,

As a resident of central Birmingham, I can assure you muggings in the city centre are rarer than you suppose. If you'd like directions to some more interesting parts of town, however, I'm sure we could oblige!

You may well be right about the city centre not offering the volume of bargain basement guest houses which abound in Blackpool, but there are an increasing number of cheaper hotels offering rooms at rates not dissimilar to those available in Bournemouth.

[Peter Coe]

Sorry, is no one going to question the ethical basis of a City Council bunging a political party £2million? All taxpayers - including Labour, Lib Dem and other parties' supporters - will be contributing to this.

It's funny, because if Manchester's Labour Council had given Labour £2million to bring their 2006 Conference there, I suspect every single impartial, rational contributor here would have been howling at the moon at the injustice of it. And they'd have been right to.

[Ben Redsell]

Just a shame we still have to go to Blackpool this year really. Could we move it to Manchester at the last minute? A bit like the casino...

I have to say I do agree with Mr Coe, and I know if I were the opposition (not to mention the Lib Dem members of administration) I would be seriously questioning why taxpayers money should be used in this way. Is it even legal? If so can we get some sort of dutch auction going for 2009? I still think Tahiti has a strong case...

[Automated Robot]

Great news. See what can be done with a hefty stick and a juicy carrot!

[Gareth]

Fellow tories, I propose we ignore the UKIP-supporting Zorro's trollish comments. The latest being, by a small margin, both his most imbecilic and absurdly partisan.

[Richard Hyslop]

This is very good news!

[Richard Hyslop]

This is very good news!

[TomTom]

I thought that photograph was supposed to be a polystyrene mock-up of the podium at the Tory Conference

[Edward]

Great news.

[Rachel Wedderburn]

Birmingham what an exciting location! although I can't see how Bournemouth can be held responsible for the passes debacle when the staff had me in tears after they insisted the police check for my husband and I came back negative refusing us entry. The fact was cancelling two weeks before at the previous years conference had been mistaken for not allowing us entry. Two days we spent trying to undo the staff's inability to help us . In the end a local constable helped us clear up the mess.
Bournemouth should not be forgotten seaside towns deperately need our business and have been good hosts.

[Rachel Wedderburn]

Birmingham what an exciting location! although I can't see how Bournemouth can be held responsible for the passes debacle when the staff had me in tears after they insisted the police check for my husband and I came back negative refusing us entry. The fact was cancelling two weeks before at the previous years conference had been mistaken for not allowing us entry. Two days we spent trying to undo the staff's inability to help us . In the end a local constable helped us clear up the mess.
Bournemouth should not be forgotten seaside towns deperately need our business and have been good hosts.

[John Wilkinson]

Who wants to be that this bung will be ruled illegal? I know that my own council wouldn't be allowed by its officers to do any such thing. On the subject of the location, 30 years being on business and staying in hotels has taught me something clearly Francis Maude has never had to learn. Accomodation in the seaside resorts is plentiful and cheap. Which is good news for those of us (unlike, maude, the media, lobbyists etc) who have to pay for our own rooms. Representatives will be shocked by Brum hotel prices.

But far more important is this (and I'm amazed that no one else has mentioned it): just look at the way Maude has acted - no consultation of the voluntary party about a major decision which affects them far more than it affects him. Top-down soviet attitudes are still very prevalent in this party. A decision affecting the voluntary party like no other should have been the result of a serious, honest consultation of the party. None happened.

[Angelo Basu]

£2m spent to attract £25m of projected benefit to the City. Sounds like a good deal struck by the Council and one which will benefit local Council Taxpayers! It'll probably also be a good way for BCC to ensure that the money they are planning on spending on rebuilding New Street Station won't get vetoed after the election.

[Graeme Archer]

Hooray! I've never been to Birmingham. Good news. I know we're supposed to be obsessed with politicking at these events but it's fun to visit a new city for a few days too innit. Though I hope Brighton is an exception to the "no more seaside" rule.

[Penultimate Guy]

Maybe someone who knows for sure can put me right, but my understanding is that all the major conference venues are willing to offer a discount based on the amount of revenue a conference is likely to bring. All, that is, except Birmingham. Until now.

[Praguetory]

PG - You are of course correct. This subsidy is less than usual so it is odd that it's such a major part of the story this time.

[John Moss]

The monument was replaced by a Ferris Wheel.

It is now a monument to NuLab. Round and round and round, quite expensive, not as much fun as it looked from a distance and ultimately, you end up back where you started from.

The nice stone building in the background BTW used to be Birmingham's Town Hall, it is now a six star hotel and probably will be booked by the BBC while we all stay in Jurys Inn just up Broad Street.

[mark starr]

Ferris wheel has also gone. However it seems most contributors have not been to Birmingham for some time . They will be surprised as it has changed for the better very significantly over the last 10 years. The City centre has been rejuvenated ,you have a brilliant shopping centre in the Bull Ring, two excellent entertainment areas i.e Broad St, the Arcadian centre , expensive hotels but lots of cheaper ones especially along the Hagley rd, expensive restaurants incl Michelin star and more reasonable ones and , of course ,some lousy football teams.

[Zorro]

Yes but most Tory delegates are looking for cheap restaurants and cheap guesthouses which Blackpool has in spades.

People seem to have forgotten also that while the seaside resorts are still keen to host these conferences bcause their chief industry depends on them, there is also a regular countywide backlash against the colossal cost of policing these event - especially from those who derive no financial benefit from them.

£25m benefit to Brum? You have got to be joking. If there are 5000 delegates that means each one is going to spend £5000!!!!

Somebody's having a larf.

When I was a Tory - admittedly there has been much inflation since then - I paid out maybe £50-£100 on accomodation and spent the rest of the week seeking free food and drink. Actually you could live cheaper at the Tory Conference than you could at home.

It's a freeloader's paradise - or was.

[Praguetory]

Zorro - please make up your mind on your line of attack. Otherwise you might come across as a partisan moron.

[Peter Coe]

Whatever the real "value" to an economy of a political conference, the point is surely that if a sum is to be advanced to one political party on the basis of an overall boost to the economy, it should be local businesses who should be drumming up the bung, not taxpayers.

That is, of course, unless anyone here is going to try to claim that the council itself will benefit by £25m - in which case perhaps you can tell us (and the District Auditor) precisely how that will come about?

[Praguetory]

Coe - you're a fool. Marketing Birmingham has been trying to get major party conferences of all hues to come to Birmingham. The Labour group on the council opposed Labour coming to Brum back in September. Also, the £2m sum is relatively low compared to sweeteners in other cities. Welcome to the real world.

[Gunther]

The £2 bribe, and the way it has been welcomed by Conservatives goes to show what is wrong with this country.

[Praguetory]

Rarely have I seen such misinformed comment. Any high profile conference event can expect a discount from full rates. It's the market working. As for Peter Coe's woefully inaccurate piece on LabourHome - It's been fisked.

[Tory Twit]

We are entitled to £2 million for holding our conference in Birmingham. It will put Birmingham on the map. I believe a lot of English people live in that area too.

[Rudyard.]

Suppose the question is,how much have the Conservatives had handed to them for holding Conference in the past?

If this is the first time a Conference"Subsidy" has been given to the Conservative Party?

Praguetory,saw your site and read the topic on this £2 million mistake,your site looks great,this "Conference Subsidy"is not so good though.

Birminghams Council Tax payers must be livid.

[toryfaithfull]

Spring Forum was held in Birmingham,1995 (I seem to remember). Expensive Hotels far from the conference centre, taxis needed everywhere, no chance of going back to the hotel between conference and fringe meetings
Why does the party not consider the members who cannot afford the conference hotel !!!

[Rudyard.]

toryfaithfull,you will need more than £400-oo if you attend the Conference.

To save money,a group of 9 will get 12% off some hotels.You can forget B+B,too far out to make a saving.

There are always caravans of course,if you can find a half decent site and find a car pool going in and out at the same times as you require.

Good luck,start planning earlier than usual though.