BIRMINGHAM has hit a £25 million jackpot by being chosen to host the annual Tory conference in 2008.
Conservative Party leaders are expected to make the formal announcement in the next few days.
The conference costs are to be underwritten by a £2 million subsidy from the city's council tax payers in what has turned out to be the winning part of the bid.
The subsidy will underwrite the hire of one of the city's major conference facilities - either the International Convention Centre, National Indoor Arena or National Exhibition Centre.
It will also help to fund transport for hundreds of delegates staying at the city's hotels.
City leaders believe this £2 million is a sound investment, as their economic experts have forecast that the Tory conference will generate a £25 million-plus boost to the Birmingham economy.
As well as helping hotels, restaurants and night clubs, daily TV coverage will establish the city's name as a major venue for high profile national conferences as well as showing off its facilities and attractions.
A private tip-off that lobbyists had succeeded in luring next year's conference to Birmingham led to the setting up of the multi-million pound war chest earlier this month.
The city's Cabinet gave the money to Marketing Birmingham, the local quango that has headed the city's negotiations with the Tories. Their chief, Neil Rami, has been running an all-out campaign to woo high profile conferences, major cultural events and big name televised sports.
Council leaders, delighted at the Tory conference booking, are hoping that it will help Birmingham win government and other political gatherings.
But other parties are booked years ahead and can't be wooed from the seaside until 2011 at the earliest.
No-one at Birmingham City Council or Marketing Birmingham would confirm the deal. But a Tory insider today said: "It's becoming our worst kept secret that we're coming to Birmingham in 2008."
