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Cameron's city revival team
Simon McGee Political Editor DAVID Cameron has appointed a shadow "Minister for Leeds" and "Minister for Sheffield" under plans to spearhead an urban Tory revival.
In appointments, yet to be formally announced, former Tory leader and Richmond MP William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, will take responsibility for the electoral battleground of Leeds and Bradford, with help from Shadow Local Government Minister Eric Pickles, the former Bradford Council leader.
Holding the torch for the Conservatives in Sheffield, where the Tories hold no Westminster seats and just two councillors, will be Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald, who represents a constituency in Hertfordshire but has family ties to the city.
Others include Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell for Birmingham, Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Duncan for Newcastle, and Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox for Bristol.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne was appointed his party's champion for Manchester last month.
Mr Heald told the Yorkshire Post last night he welcomed his appointment and stressed it would provide "a valuable direct link" between the Tory Shadow Cabinet and activists and the public in Sheffield.
"The important thing is to show that there are no parts of the country where we don't want to know what people are thinking," he said.
Mr Hague added: "It is vitally important to rebuilt Conservative support in Northern cities. I look forward to working with people in Leeds and Bradford to do this over the coming years."
Making progress in urban Britain is seen as one of the Tories' greatest challenges – one that new leader David Cameron acknowledged earlier this year by making cities the theme of his first party conference and by the fact that it was held in a Northern city where the party has no councillors.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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