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Through the '90s and noughties, the North East of England often dominated Labour politics.

The Cabinet was packed with the region's MPs.

Jack Cunningham, Mo Mowlam, David Clark, Nick Brown, Stephen Byers, Alan Milburn, Peter Mandelson, Hilary Armstrong, David Miliband and of course at the top, Tony Blair.

But there's a real possibility that new leader Ed Miliband's top team will contain no English MPs from north of Leeds.

The departures of South Shields' David Miliband and Newcastle East's Nick Brown may have brought an end to an era.

There are four North East MPs contesting the Shadow Cabinet elections, but it's fair to say none are frontrunners.

Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman, the City of Durham's Roberta Blackman-Woods, Kevan Jones from Durham North and Hartlepool's Iain Wright have all been nominated.

But the odds are they'll be among the 30-or-so MPs who miss out in the ballot.

Does it matter that the region lacks a presence in the top team?

That's something I asked former Chief Whip Nick Brown on the Politics Show today. You can watch what he had to say on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã iPlayer including his answer on whether he's now planning to write his memoirs!

He says he was offered the chance to stand for another position in the Shadow Cabinet by Ed Miliband, but chose to step aside.

That's because he wants to concentrate on leading North East Labour opposition to the Coalition's plans to replace the regional development agency, One North East.

And it's not all bad news for Labour in the region as he will no doubt have the support of are a new generation (popular phrase that) of North East Labour MPs from the 2010 intake who are ambitious and able, and may well rise through the ranks.

Ironically, they are also a more significant part of the parliamentary party than when Labour still had more than a handful of seats in the south of England.

But for the moment, the centre of gravity of the party has moved south, even if it's only as far as West and South Yorkshire.

Of course, anyone seeking high profile northern representatives would also struggle to find many at the in Birmingham.

Richmond's William Hague is the only one at the top.

That won't stop Northern Tories having a spring in their step though.

They are back in power and boast two new MPs from the region - John Stevenson in Carlisle, and James Wharton in Stockton South - even if that's fewer than they would have wanted.

But some of the northern delegates will want reassurance that the region will get some help to see it through the cuts that are to come.

Some senior Tories in the region are concerned about the demise of the regional development agency One North East and the rather fractured plans to replace it with up to six new Local Enterprise Partnerships. They'll want to hear more about that.

And they'll also be looking for details of how the new £1bn Regional Growth Fund will work, and any other ways the Conservatives can show it is aware of northern concerns.

And for some it will also be a chance to find out more about the Coalition's Big Society plans.

Penrith and the Border's Rory Stewart - a fan of the idea - is popping up at all sorts of fringe meetings to discuss what it can do for his Cumbrian constituents.

He's even arranged one meeting to discuss what's happening in the Eden district of Cumbria at Birmingham this evening.

I'll be blogging from Birmingham to keep you up to date on all the news. (You need to search for Richardpolshow on Twitter).

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