Liz Truss draws huge crowds at Tory conference as she demands tax cuts and green light for fracking

Liz Truss drew a huge crowd as hundreds queued to watch her speech at Conservative Party conference on Monday – while Cabinet ministers addressed a near-empty main hall.

The former prime minister was the star turn at the party’s gathering, with long lines forming to hear her call on Rishi Sunak to cut business taxes and approve fracking.

Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader, was also swamped by activists as he made a surprise appearance in Manchester and toured the central exhibition space.

He attended the “Great British Growth Rally” event, hosted by Ms Truss and other senior Tory tax rebels, which was so oversubscribed that there was only standing room left.

In contrast senior ministers had to deliver their keynote speeches to a main hall that was at times almost empty, with the scenes prompting surprise from leading Tories.

The Telegraph can disclose ticket sales for the annual conference have dropped by almost 800 since it was last in Manchester two years ago, when Boris Johnson was leader.

Party chiefs have sold 12,820 this year compared to 13,192 last year, when Ms Truss oversaw a chaotic gathering in Birmingham, and 13,604 in 2021.

Conservative officials said that the figures showed attendance has remained broadly stable and media reports of a significant drop-off in the number of party faithful were overblown.

But the sparse showing on Sunday, which may have been caused by rail strikes making travel to Manchester difficult, concerned some senior figures.

One member of the Cabinet said that they were surprised to see “swathes” of empty seats during speeches from big names including James Cleverly.

The Foreign Secretary was one of a succession of Mr Sunak’s top team who were photographed delivering their conference addresses to a near-empty main hall on Sunday.

The struggle to fill seats came even though this year’s gathering is taking place in a smaller venue than last year’s in Birmingham, the minister pointed out.

But they added the opening Sunday is usually the quietest of the four-day event and members are more interested in fringe events where they can ask questions.