The Tories try to win friends in the north

A new group designed to increase the Tory party’s appeal to urban northern voters will be launched this June. It already has the support of a considerable number of MPs and, I understand, senior figures in Number 10 are offering support to the project. David Skelton, who moved the Tories from third to second in Durham North at the last election, is stepping down as the deputy director of Policy Exchange to run it.

This new group is right that it will be very hard for the Tories to win a workable majority without winning some seats in the urban and suburban north. This is going to require susbtanitally increasing the party’s support among ethnic minority and working class voters.

But the test for this group will be whether it has the patience to stick at it. As one northern Cabinet Minister complained to me recently, the Tories consistently talk a good game of building up their presence in the north. But as polling day approaches, resources are pulled out and moved into more winnable seats.