It was among the Victorian heritage of Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry, two and a half years ago, that Boris Johnson first made the pitch.
Days after first entering Number 10, the Prime Minister had travelled 200 miles north, to promise precious hope to communities that had watched their industries and civic pride erode, their power diminish and their children’s prospects dwindle.
He would, he said, ‘level’ them up. What did it mean? According to his former adviser, Dominic Cummings, there was no thought behind it.
Yet for the PM, a man disinterested in policy but - back then, at least - formidable on campaigning, it became a catch-all pitch to people from Bury to Bishop Auckland, whose votes he needed to win.
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