Boris Johnson and Prit Patel are in Manchester as the Conservative Party Conference gets underway.
The conference, which is being hosted at the Manchester Central convention centre, begins today and ends on Wednesday, October 6.
Ahead of the gathering of Tory delegates, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been seen out and about in the city.
READ MORE:
The pair even made time to play a spot of ping pong — a sport which Mr Johnson refers to as ‘whiff whaff’.
Their table tennis endeavours took place during a visit to the HideOut Youth Zone, in Gorton.
The government ministers also took the chance to bake at the youth centre, donning Conservative-branded aprons.
Mr Johnson and Ms Patel’s visit to Manchester is not without controversy, however.
This afternoon, protesters are marching on the conference centre from Oxford Road — demanding a swathe of reforms, including an end to the policing bill which the Home Secretary has advocated for.
The march is just one demonstration in four days of action from the People’s Assembly.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has also sounded a warning to key Tory figures — saying ‘we never back down from an argument’ as he launched a £1 billion levelling up bid.
The money would go towards developing a ‘London style’ transport system, he said, which would happen ‘come what may’.
He did add that the Bee Network, as it is known, that central support was necessary to produce a ‘much better’ version of the scheme.
