Bring Back Politics-by-the-sea

Mace | Issue 2 | Magazine

From the Archive

Seaside-town voters in red wall seats helped secure the prime minister’s landslide

It is 13 years since the Conservative Party hosted a seaside autumn party conference. Next year – after going virtual – the prime minister should support struggling coastal communities, along with the great English seaside, by returning to the tradition of politics-by-the-sea. It was on 11 October 1985 when Margaret Thatcher told conference that “We all love Blackpool”. No longer. That the Tories have not held a conference in Blackpool since 2007 – and Labour since 2002 – is symptomatic of how paranoid party leaders have become with being associated with the metropolitan gospel of British decline-ism. In a notorious Times column, Matthew Parris described seaside towns like Clacton as resorts “trying not to die”, being symbols of failure and social depression. This is the wrong approach. One of Labour’s greatest mistakes at the last election was to ignore the seaside vote in towns like Blackpool, where homelessness and disadvantaged pupils are well above the national average. Coastal co...

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.