'Wild horses wouldn't keep me away': PM pledges to return to Tipton
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to return to Tipton after revealing he covered the area when he was a reporter at the Express & Star.
Mr Johnson said "wild horses" wouldn't keep him away from the town after he was invited to return by West Bromwich West MP Shaun Bailey.
And he said Tipton was "on his patch" when he was a reporter, having been sent to work at the title when he was a trainee journalist in the 1980s.
The Prime Minister had been called on to return to "reaffirm" his commitment to the Black Country in light of a "devastating" factory explosion in Tipton 100 years ago.
Dignitaries and relatives from across the area came together on Sunday to remember the 19 girls, aged between 13 and 16, who died as a result of injuries sustained in the L K Knowles metal works on March 6, 1922.
Mr Bailey, speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, said: "My community in Tipton came together on Sunday to commemorate the hundred years since the devastating explosion of the Dudley Port munitions factory and the 19 girls who were recklessly murdered by the owner of that factory. Now, in the Black Country, it's vital that we acknowledge both the pride but also the pain of our industrial heritage.
"Can I ask (Mr Johnson) to therefore to reaffirm his commitment to the Black Country to ensure that we honour that legacy of those girls in that factory in Dudley Port 100 years ago? And the one way that (the PM) can do that, for my community in Tipton, is to come to Tipton and see that beating heart of the Black Country who will welcome him with open arms."
Mr Johnson responded: "Long ago when I was a reporter, Tipton was on my patch. Wild horses wouldn't keep me away from Tipton – I will be back."
The PM worked briefly at E&S in the 1980s after being sent from The Times, having been told he needed work experience on a regional newspaper to learn what the job was really like.
He lived in Dimmock Street, in Parkfields, Wolverhampton, and later said the city was the reason he became a Conservative.
Colleagues from the time said Mr Johnson was a "far cry" from the average reporter, wearing wide-lapelled chalk-stripe suits and silk ties.