Tories who cancelled plans to hold their annual dinner at the National Coal Mining Museum have found another venue for the event.

Dewsbury Conservative Association cancelled after the museum near Grange Moor came under fire from left-wing activists who said the choice of venue was an insult to former miners and their families – with the Tories widely blamed for the decimation of the British coal industry.

The £35-a-head dinner will now be held on Saturday, March 10, at the Tetley’s Stadium, home of the Dewsbury Rams Rugby Club.

Association chairman Mark Eastwood said that following the publicity surrounding the cancellation of the original event, the association has been “inundated with bookings for the dinner from Conservative members within and outside the constituency who want to show their support.”

Commenting on the new venue, he said: “We are delighted to be supporting our local rugby club who do so much good work within the community, but like most sports venues, need finance to upgrade their facilities and to improve the team’s chances of being a success on the pitch.”

Mark Eastwood (right).

The guest speaker at the dinner will be newly-appointed work and pensions secretary Esther McVey – who reportedly received a great deal of personal online abuse following her recent promotion to her role as a Cabinet minister.

Mr Eastwood said in the light of this abuse and the threats of violence which led to the cancellation of the previous event he was now asking Labour’s Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin and Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff to speak out.

He said: “I call on the Labour MPs for Batley and Dewsbury to publicly support our right to hold a private event without fear of intimidation and threats of violence from hard left Labour Party activists towards venue staff and guests attending the dinner.

“In a democracy, it is important that a legitimate organisation like ours is allowed to host a function at a venue of our choosing, without any safety fears for those attending and this should be respected regardless of political points of view.”

The date of the annual dinner is two days after the anniversary of the return to work at the end of the Miners’ Strike in 1985.

National Coal Mining Museum.

A formal complaint about the use of the museum as the venue for the dinner had been submitted by Chris Kitchen, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. He said it was “wrong to allow the museum to be used by a political party that is clearly determined to keep rubbing salt into the wounds it created.”

The union said it was a “matter of common knowledge that members of the Conservative Party conspired to close and destroy the coal industry.”

The museum had refused to ban the dinner, saying it was required to maintain political independence and could not “refuse or revoke the booking” – however a decision was taken to cancel after staff received threats.