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By Nick Assinder
BBC News Online political correspondent
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Just when you thought there was already too much froth in British politics, the Tories are said to be planning to move into a new HQ over a coffee shop.
The Tories might live above a coffee shop
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And, needless to say, it isn't some greasy spoon caff, full of builders with sagging jeans.
It is the very essence of what some see as American cultural imperialism - Starbucks, in Victoria Street, just down the road from the Commons.
Whether this means - if the deal goes ahead - that future meetings of the shadow cabinet will resemble a scene from the US sitcom Frasier, with policy decided over mocha and latte (with extra froth and neurosis) remains to be seen.
But this is not only a financial decision - with a possible £8 million windfall from the sale of the existing Smith Square HQ - but also hugely symbolic.
Malignant forces
The current HQ, which has been the scene of many Tory triumphs since the party took possession in 1958, has turned into an Amityville-style house of horror with blood seeping from the walls, eerie whispers emanating from the attic and bodies buried in the brickwork.
Central Office has been the Tory home for decades
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Its walls have recently witnessed the political murder of two of its leaders and its windows have rattled to the sounds of plotting and back-stabbing.
No wonder they are looking to move out to somewhere clean of malignant forces and with a more open plan, chrome and glass ambience.
And they have Labour's example to follow. When New Labour moved out of the resolutely "old" HQ in Walworth Road, to Millbank Tower, it appeared to instantly shed the union-dominated, red flag image in favour of a modern, social democrat sheen.
It was, of course, accompanied by a revolution in the way the party operated at every level - the Mandelsonisation of the party, as it was seen at the time. But it all worked.
And, even if the Tories do not end up living over Starbucks, it is an absolutely safe bet to say they will find something far more modern, open and "clean" than the existing Smith Square office.
Now, what can they do about that name?
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~17~RS~)
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