Tory Minister Dehenna Davison left a room of Northern leaders bemused after skipping a major conference in Manchester and sending them a bizarre video about her job by mistake.
The Levelling Up Minister, who represents the red wall seat of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, was scheduled to join speakers including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham at the Great Northern Conference at University Academy '92.
Read more: Labour to promise North 'more control over its future' at Manchester conference
But when organisers revealed the 29-year-old Tory couldn't make the event, a short video was played instead showing Ms Davison talking about a recent appearance in the Commons.
The video - in which the Minister described taking MPs' questions on their bids for Levelling Up Fund cash - didn't mention the North of England at all.
It was met with confusion and laughter from the dozens of business and political leaders, who'd been expecting to hear Ms Davison talk about the future of the North. Mr Burnham asked: "Was that the right video?"
It later emerged the wrong video had been sent and later at the conference, organised by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, the right video was played.
Ms Davison said 'Parliamentary business has me tied up in Westminster' and spoke about her passion for the levelling up agenda introduced by Boris Johnson.
One furious Tory told the Mirror: “It confirms many colleagues’ worst fears about making the self proclaimed tiktok Tory an actual minister.”
What does the North need from levelling up? Find out on The Northern Agenda podcast
In the second video, the MP said Greater Manchester was "a place that really speaks to the art of the possible when it comes to leveling up".
She said: "Now I remember this really interesting documentary about [legendary Salford band] Joy Division from a few years ago, where the presenter Tony Wilson is narrating over stock footage of city slums and smokestacks.
"And he talks about a city that had hit rock bottom in the mid 70s. He described it as a feeling like a piece of history that had been spat out and is really grimy and dirty.
"And the Joy Division guitarist Bernard Sumner then goes even further saying 'you were always looking for beauty, because it was such an ugly place'.
"But blimey, haven't times changed since then. Greater Manchester today has a vibrant and energized business community, contributing some £75bn pounds to our economy annually, with trailblazing companies across all sorts of sectors from advanced manufacturing to life sciences to net zero, and media organisations in Salford."
Ms Davison later tweeted: "Despite being really keen to attend the Great Northern Conference, the parliamentary business calendar meant instead I had to be in Parliament today to take through the Levelling Up and Regen Bill - measures in which will help empower local leaders across the North.
"Despite that, I didn’t want to pull out of the conference entirely. That’s why I did a video setting out my thoughts on levelling up in the north - which, as a northern lass through and through, I’m incredibly passionate about. But, as I said, always check your attachments!"
At the same event, Tory Transport Secretary Mark Harper also sent a prerecorded video message after missing the event at the University Academy 92 campus. His department said he couldn't make it because of a vote in the Commons.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves had to pull out of the event through illness but a keynote speech was delivered in person on her behalf by Shadow Chief Treasury Secretary Pat McFadden.
It's not the first time a senior Tory has skipped a major conference to discuss levelling up in the North.
This summer, Boris Johnson incurred the wrath of Tory backbenchers when he failed to turn up to an event in Doncaster organised by the Northern Research Group and instead went to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
