Bury has led the way, says Cameron (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Bury has led the way, says Cameron

2:30pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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TORY, Tory, hallelujah! Bury Parish Church was the perfect backdrop for a triumphant visit by David Cameron.

This was not the second, but the third, coming for the Conservative party leader in recent weeks in an all-out attempt to fly the blue flag over Bury.

The council was seen as the biggest target in the north by the Conservatives, and they took control in the local elections for the first time since 1986 by winning the three seats they needed.

The mood was upbeat as local party activists, bearing balloons and banners, turned out for his brief visit to Bury on Friday lunchtime.

But they had to wait as the nation's media pounced on Mr Cameron's Ford Focus as it drew up in Bolton Street.

Such was the scrum that he could barely get out of his car, before being welcomed by local party leader Bob Bibby.

Mr Cameron finally made it to the Peel statue where, standing on a bench, he congratulated Coun Bibby and his team on their "magnificent" victory.

"Here in Bury you have shown the way," he said.

"What matters now is getting into the town hall and making sure we do a good job for the people of Bury."

He said it was fitting to be standing beside the statue of Robert Peel, the founder of the modern-day Tory party.

Before resuming his whistle-stop tour of the nation's victorious battlefields, Mr Cameron made a joke with Coun Bibby about the number of times he has visited the town: "If I come and see you any more in Bury, we will have to form a civil partnership!"

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