Liverpool was all set to host the annual Tory Conference before a change of plans, a former leader of the local party has claimed.
A contract was apparently agreed with the Liverpool Arena to host the event in 2024, but the idea was shelved after Mr Johnson took the keys to Number 10 in 2019.
The reasons for the change of venue are unclear, but the Prime Minister has a notoriously fractious relationship with Liverpool - having previously published slurs about those affected by the Hillsborough disaster while a magazine editor.
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James Pearson, who was then chairman of the Liverpool Tory party and now chairs the Manchester party, told the Northern Agenda podcast that the event was "firmly on the cards" until 2019.
He said: "It was actually stated for 2024, we'd agreed a contract with the Echo Arena. That was firmly on the cards up until I think 2019.
"From our perspective being Liverpool Conservatives at the time, we were absolutely chuffed to bits with that announcement.
"After covid and everything they rejigged it."
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Asked whether Mr Johnson's election had anything to do with the change of venue, he added: "I don't think so."
Liverpool periodically plays host to the Labour and Liberal Democrat party conferences, but has not hosted a Conservative Conference since the 1920s.
Prior to 2019, the party last considered the city in 2011 when it was under the leadership of David Cameron.
At the time, then council leader Joe Anderson welcomed the idea saying: "Politics aside, the Labour conference injected £15m into the local economy and we expect a similar amount to be generated by a Conservative conference.
"That is certainly in the best interests of the city and we welcome this opportunity.”
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