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Author: BAGEHOT
Birmingham is the Conservative Party’s top choice for conferences. The mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, is a Conservative. Birmingham city centre is a better place to hold a conference than Manchester (where the Conservatives held their conference last year) or Liverpool (where Labour held its conference last week). There are dozens of excellent restaurants and bars within walking distance.
But Birmingham has a problem: it recalls the disappointment of the last election. Nick Timothy, who served as Theresa May’s joint chief of staff (with Fiona Hill) and chief policy adviser, is a Birmingham boy who believes the answer to his party’s quest for a post-Brexit identity lies in his hometown. David Cameron concocted “Notting Hill Conservatism”, designed to appeal to city liberals who liked economic liberalism but feared that traditional Conservatives were “nasty”. Timothy’s response is “Erdington Conservatism” (named after the area of Birmingham where he grew up), designed to appeal to ordinary working and middle-class people who believe in traditional values but are worried about their economic future. What distinguishes Erdington Conservatism from liberal Conservatism is its willingness to endorse policies to “take back control”: Mr Timothy’s greatest hero is Joe Chamberlain, the one-time mayor of Birmingham who championed the Empire System of Preferences.
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