John Whittingdale MP, Rt Hon Francis Maude MP, Jeremy Middleton, Lord Ashcroft, Emma Pidding, Charles Barwell, Ian McIsaac and Graham Stuart MP
The Board of the Conservative Party met at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton on Monday. Party Chairman Francis Maude has taken a welcome initiative for the Board to meet a couple of times each year across Britain, and this week's meeting gave us a chance to hear about the advances that the Party made in the local elections in the North West.
The North West of England is one of the most critical regions where the Conservatives have to reach deep into Labour territory to build on our position of just nine current MPs out of 76 across the region. Regional Chairman John Walsh and Regional Campaign Director Sue Gillett explained how the team on the ground plans to deliver, in their words, Blue Skies from Crewe to Carlisle.
With the imminent arrival of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, Francis Maude reported that the impending By-Elections in Ealing Southgate and possibly also in Sedgefield could be revealing, with Ealing giving the Conservative Party perhaps its best chance to win a seat from Labour in a By-Election since 1982!
Whilst we were at the Reebok, former Mayor of Bolton John Walsh kindly gave me a tour of the stadium including inside the hallowed portals of the home players' locker room and onto the tv cameras gantry right under the stadium roof. If only the Villa had played better in the Cup match last season I might have enjoyed the tour even more.
