Conservative conference: Boris Johnson hopes his ‘levelling up’ agenda will be his legacy

The prime minister wants to use the virtual event to move the agenda on from Covid and Brexit, writes Andrew Woodcock

Boris Johnson visits a building site (Getty Images)

We will hear a lot at the Conservative conference this week about “levelling up”, as Boris Johnson tries to shift political focus away from the Covid pandemic and on to his domestic agenda.

The slogan was on Mr Johnson’s lips from the moment he became prime minister in July 2019, and was reinstalled at the top of his agenda after December’s general election, when the Tories seized “red wall” seats in the Midlands and north of England from Labour on a promise of jobs, investment and new infrastructure.

For the prime minister, “levelling up” is a way of moving on from the division and rancour of Brexit, which played such a big part in propelling him into power, but which he has largely banished from his rhetoric since the formal date of withdrawal from the EU on 31 January.