It’s emerged that conservative leader David Cameron has ordered Tory MPs to oppose plans to build Britain's first supercasino in Manchester.
The news will come as music to the ears of campaigners in cities such as Blackpool who say the commission set up to pick the most suitable venue got it wrong.
Amazingly there isn’t a single conservative local councilor in the city of Manchester with the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats holding 95 or the 96 seats.
This compares to 13 Conservative councilors in Blackpool.
If the move materializes then it would mean that Mr. Cameron has effectively overruled shadow chancellor George Osborne, who was reported to have advised high-ranking colleagues to support Manchester's bid.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, a spokesman for Mr. Cameron told culture secretary Tessa Jowell that the Tories intend to oppose the all-or-nothing single order, which if defeated, would mean the whole casino package is thrown out.
Cameron would be eager to cause disruption and public humiliation for the culture secretary on the back of the Super Casino fiasco.
A huge number of Labour back benchers from areas which failed in their bid to attain the licence for the Super Casino are also expected to vote against the new proposals.
Tomorrow the vote to adopt the plans or ditch them goes before the House of Commons.
The Manchester bid is to site a supercasino in Beswick near the City of Manchester Stadium, claiming it would create 2,700 direct jobs.
Its success took many by surprise, after Blackpool had been the hot favourite.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has decided she did not want to reopen the choice of Manchester, Blackpool or London's Dome.
Instead, she decided to have an `all or nothing' vote before MPs rise for their Easter holidays later this week.
MPs will spend up to three hours debating the issue.
It should then go to the Lords before parliament rises.
Michael Jack, Tory MP for Fylde, predicts the vote will be tight in the Commons since more than 100 MPs have signed a protest motion. Even if the order scrapes through the Commons it faces a rough ride in the Lords.
