11 August 2006
THE Conservative Party is moving into an old Labour heartland – London’s Millbank Centre.
Labour masterminded its landslide election victory in 1997 from the building on the north side of the Thames.
The Tories announced an agreement last night with billionaire businessmen the Reuben brothers, who own the complex.
The move next spring could be seen as yet another example of Tory leader David Cameron’s attempts to mirror the early days of the New Labour ‘project’. A party spokesman, however, said the building simply represented a ‘good deal’.
The Tories are currently based in Victoria Street.
Labour moved out of Millbank in 2002.
Other occupants of the building include the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Steelmaker Corus and the Leonard Cheshire charity.
The Tories also own their historic Smith Square headquarters in London, the scene of four election triumphs under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.