Tory Conference 2010

David Cameron and his cabinet will be in Birmingham from Sunday 3rd-6th of October for their Tory Party Conference.

The Prime Minister and Leader of The Conservative Party says: “I am absolutely delighted to be returning to Birmingham for our party conference this year. Before our last conference here in 2008 we hadn’t held a conference in Birmingham in seventy-five years. Now we are returning within two years. That shows just how much we valued our time here two years ago and what a great experience we had.”

  • The ICC is the only UK venue to have hosted events by all three main political parties in the last two years
  • The last conservative party conference in 2008 had an economic impact of £28m with money spent on hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues
  • 14,000 delegates will attend the conference this year
  • 450 fringe events
  • Over the four days 20,000 delegates will be catered for during the Fringe Meetings
  • Over 2000 press will attend.

Geoff Fenlon, General Manager of The ICC said, “We are delighted to be welcoming back The Conservative Party to The ICC...We work closely with other partners in the city to ensure that we provide the very best experience for our delegates and maximise the economic and profile opportunities for the city, promoting Birmingham as the place to do business.”

As well as protecting things inside, West Midlands Police will also be protecting those outside, especially as a number of protests are planned during the event, with thousands expected on the opening day of the conference. Michael Bradley’s from Unison and one of the national organisers of the Right to Work Campaign, he told Heart they will be protesting outside the conference to say they’re not happy about the job cuts: “1.5 million people to lose their jobs over the next 4 years in the public and private sector, there’s a million young people already on the doll, huge cuts in NHS and our fire service are under attack…we think none of this is justified, the people who made the mess are the bankers and we want to let the government know we’re not accepting the cuts.”

With protests expected, West Midlands Police have upped their security. Superintendant David Sturman is from West Midlands Police and has been telling Heart what safety measures are in place: “There is a search regime around the venue, so when delegates come into the venue they can be assured it’s as safe as it can be…beyond that we have a high visible police presence, and normal policing will continue around the city.”

The bottom end of Broad Street and surrounding area will have restrictions in place as the ICC and Hyatt are turned into an island site. Click here to dowload our map of all the ROAD RESTRICTIONS.

The Tory Conference in 2008 brought thousands of hungry and thirsty delegates - so how do you organise such an event? Well Heart's Mel Hancock went behind the scenes to find out: