Conservative Party Conference diary: ‘lies’ over HS2, Carrie Antoinette and a Brexit bust up

The spectre of HS2 has loomed large over the Conservative Party conference, and today it emerged that the high speed rail link to Manchester may be scrapped … with a possible announcement in Manchester.

Rishi Sunak has repeatedly refused to answer the question over whether the northern leg of HS2 will go ahead. Today (2 October) it was reported that the Prime Minister might actually confirm that it will be axed in his leader’s speech on Wednesday, and announce the reallocation of funds to other transport projects.

This has been met with bemusement by some Tory MPs at the communications disaster of Sunak announcing the cancellation of the northern route in the city it was supposed to end up in. I called for Sunak to be up front with the public ahead of Manchester, however it’s hard to understate how bad this would look for a government elected on a manifesto of levelling up. It's already made his slogan "long-term decisions for a brighter future" look laughable.

Regional leaders, Labour and Conservative, are furious. Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s mayor, accused Sunak of “betraying the north” and questioned why no one in the city’s devolved government was consulted. While the Tory mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, held an impromptu press conference at the event, warning the Prime Minister of a “once in a generation opportunity to level up”. The government has said that no decision has been made on HS2 yet. All going well then.

Earlier, Sunak was accused of “dishonesty” and “lies” by a major regional leader over his claim that the east to west rail link in the north (called Northern Powerhouse Rail) was not connected with HS2. I was in the audience at the Big Transport Fringe event, as Henri Murison expressed his frustration over HS2.

At the event, he asked Huw Merriman: “Will his colleagues and the Prime Minister stop claiming that HS2 has nothing to do with Northern Powerhouse Rail, because I don’t mind having a policy debate but I’m sick of being lied to, and people being dishonest in the media.” Merriman, who is the HS2 minister, couldn’t confirm the future of the rail link, instead telling the audience: “Things will become clear soon, and when they are I believe that will be the right thing for this country.”

One place where people were not in favour of HS2 was at the pro-Brexit Bruges Group - named after Margaret Thatcher’s speech in the Belgian city in 1988. The fringe event was called ‘Can the Tories win?’, with firebrand MP Lee Anderson not showing up. Perhaps he’s had a look at the polls.

Chair Barry Legg - who was a Eurosceptic Tory MP in the 90s - revealed that Anderson had been moved to a different event by the party, which received loud boos from the audience. A far more popular comment was Legg’s demand to scrap HS2 in its entirety, which received cheers and claps from the audience.

And he explained how at the 2021 conference event in Manchester, he got the reply of “Carrie Antoinette” - comparing Boris Johnson’s wife to the queen of France who was killed in the French Revolution - when he asked the audience what was behind Boris’ net zero policies. “That visceral cry from the audience I believe was an early sign that the Boris Johnson administration was in deep trouble,” Legg said, to laughter.

However the main course of the Bruges Group’s event was still to come, when pro-EU campaigner Steve Bray appeared in the venue - which was outside the secure zone - and started shouting: “What Brexit benefits?”

This elicited groans, and a few expletives from the audience, before one person got up and began grappling with Bray. He shouted “this is assault” and continued to talk about “Brexit bulls***” as he was led out. One audience member called him a “k***head”.

After watching the video I took on X, formerly Twitter, Ed Barker remarked: “I am not sure this helps the Remain cause in the way he thinks (or is that even the intention?)”

And Brexit wasn’t done for the day for me, as after a quick sandwich, I headed over to the Alan Hotel to hear veteran Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith, David Jones MP and Lord David Frost, Boris Johnson’s negotiator, explain why the public, a majority of which now regret leaving the EU, are wrong.

The trio were not afraid to stick the boot in on the government - a problem which has cropped up regularly for Sunak at this conference. Jones described the Windsor Framework as the UK having its “right foot in the EU”, while Lord Frost became the latest senior Tory to call for lower taxes. And Duncan Smith said the UK should have ignored the single-judge ECHR judgement on Rwanda and just started sending migrants there.

The former Tory leader also made the point that speeches had been moved from the main hall of the conference centre to side exhibition space, which he speculated was due to fewer members attending. Duncan Smith said this was due to how expensive attending conference is, and remembered previous years in Blackpool when he stumped up £4 for a room.

Afterwards at the free bar, I spotted several audience members downing glasses of wine - either making the most of the complimentary drinks or needing a stiff drink after the event.