The Northern Agenda: The spirit of Don Revie

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By ROB PARSONS - July 29 2022

Leeds United don't kick off their season for a few more days but there was a partisan crowd of a different type at their Elland Road stadium last night.

Hundreds of Conservative members from across the North packed out the club's Centenary Pavilion, described as one of the biggest event spaces in the North, to hear from Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as they made their pitch to be the next Prime Minister.

The two-hour event saw the two Tory leadership rivals quizzed by LBC's Nick Ferrari before taking questions from the party members who will ultimately choose the next resident of 10 Downing Street.

Your Northern Agenda writer was in the audience too, and here are a few of the talking points that emerged from the first in a series of official hustings.

Truss wants to channel the spirit of Don Revie:

If the popularity of the two is to be judged by rounds of applause from the audience, Leeds-educated Liz Truss came out on top. She peppered her speech and answers with references tailor-made for the Yorkshire audience, saying she'd got “grit, determination and straight-talking” from her years in Yorkshire and that is what is needed in Downing Street as “we face a huge global economic crisis”. After admitting she supported Norwich City FC she added: “I do want us to channel the spirit of Don Revie” – a former Leeds United and England manager – because “we need to win”.

Sunak wants to spread Teesside optimism across the North:

As the Chancellor who set up a