Even the Tories seem to be fed-up with their own government, judging by the attendance figures at their party conference in Manchester. Senior figures failed to pack-out auditoriums, with empty seats outnumbering filled ones in some cases.
Grant Shapps, the recently appointed Defence Minister, delivered a speech which seemed to fall on deaf ears. It was debatable whether the room was even at half-capacity for the Cabinet member, and he needed his aides to occupy spaces at the front of the crowd.
James Cleverly and David Davies were also caught cold by the low turn-out, as both politicians gave addresses to sparsely-populated rooms. The embarrassing scenes have created another self-inflicted crisis for the Tories, whose presence up north has been met by protests.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the venue on Sunday, to voice their opposition to the government. The driving rain did not deter the demonstrators, who appeared to outnumber the crowds inside at tines.
Rishi Sunak is set to close the conference with his keynote speech on Wednesday. Whether anyone will turn up or not remains to be seen, but the Conservative Party is facing something of a reckoning at next year’s General Election.
Indeed, the location of their conference is something of a sore point. It’s now looking increasingly likely that the HS2 rail network will not extend to Manchester as promised. Though this has not yet been confirmed by the PM, all signs point towards a back-track.
