The market town of Tiverton, which became prosperous in the 16th and 17th centuries thanks to its thriving wool trade, is usually a tranquil kind of place.
But it was an uncomfortable spot to be on Saturday as townsfolk digested the news that their MP, Neil Parish, was under investigation for allegedly watching pornography in the House of Commons.
“It’s a disgrace,” said Peter Moore, 74, a retired engineer who has lived in Devon all his life (“apart from six years serving in the county regiment”).
“Of course he should resign. People used to fall on their swords but they don’t now. He should resign – and Boris Johnson should resign. It’s Trumpism, people don’t care now. There used to be honour, there’s no honour now, apart from honour among thieves.”
Paul Graham, 54, a former mayor of Tiverton, heard Moore talking and couldn’t resist stopping and leaping in, with a different take.
“In this country, we’re innocent until proven guilty,” he said. Graham, who works in manufacturing, warmed to his theme. “It’s upsetting for the town but we don’t want a byelection. I’ve voted for Neil three times and I’ll vote for him next time if I get the chance.”
He won’t. By the afternoon, Parish had resigned. “The situation was that – funnily enough it was tractors I was looking at” he told the BBC. “I did get into another website that had a very similar name and I watched it for a bit which I shouldn’t have done. But my crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time.”
This weekend, the story about Parish watching porn in the Commons is the latest “off grid” disaster to hit Boris Johnson and the Tories, with just four days to go until crucial local elections.
If the Conservatives do badly on Thursday many of Parish’s former colleagues could be tempted to submit letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady calling on Johnson to go, triggering what could be the beginning of the end for the prime minister.
The West Country was already looking difficult enough for Johnson as Partygate, the cost of living crisis, and other Tory sleaze scandals made his campaign claims to be just “getting on with the job” and “delivering for the British people” ring rather hollow.
On Friday on the rural north-eastern fringes Taunton in Somerset, where desperately needed new housing is spreading around meadows, cricket fields and old cider orchards, there was little enthusiasm for the Tory offer.
Kim Linden, 57, a hairdresser, said she would be switching to the Lib Dems in Thursday’s local elections. “[The Tories] don’t tell the truth. [Boris Johnson] said ‘No we didn’t have parties’ but they did have parties,” she says, while being canvassed by the Lib Dems, on one of the sprawling, new-build estates.
“And it’s not just that: everything is rising. Bills. Gas. Electric. Fuel. And they are not helping us. They are not putting anything in place for the future.”
Other long-term Conservative voters on the private development were having doubts too. Their concerns are bad news for Johnson because the Lib Dems are eyeing a big comeback across large parts of the south-west and Tory-run Somerset county council is a key target.
Dave Cardy, 52, a former police officer who now delivers prescriptions, said he had had enough of Johnson. “I thought he would become a sensible prime minister. But he has just carried on bumbling his way through life. Really, we need a grown-up in charge – Boris’s time is done,” he said.
Look north, and similar views were being expressed on Friday behind the “red wall” that Johnson and his party breached with devastating effect at the 2019 general election.
Results in councils such as Kirklees, which takes in Huddersfield, will be scrutinised as Labour seeks to win back control. Across the council area views are still mixed on the Labour leader Keir Starmer’s appeal and it is by no means all going his way. But there are some signs that opinion is slowly shifting in Labour’s direction.
A hairdresser in Birstall, who asked not to be named, said she doesn’t see a way back for Johnson, because he was “completely guilty and knew what he was doing”.
She added: “If you’ve lied about something then there’s always going to be mistrust.”
Georgina Marshall, who switched from Labour to the Conservatives at the last general election was dismayed by Johnson for very personal reasons. “He carries on and carries on. I had a Christmas where I couldn’t see my mum; I didn’t see my 90-year-old grandma for two years. Meanwhile he’s partying with all his friends.”
Labour could retake Kirklees council by gaining just three of the 23 seats up for election, after it slipped into no overall control following three defections in 2020. But failure to do so will be seen as evidence that the red wall will be stubbornly difficult to reconquer.
Millions of voters will go to the polls across the UK on Thursday, with 6,800 seats being contested, including all council seats in Scotland and Wales.
In Northern Ireland the first elections to the assembly will be held since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. In England elections will take place in all London boroughs, 33 of 36 metropolitan boroughs, 60 out of 181 district councils, and 21 of 58 unitary authorities.
Inevitably Labour, which did well when most of these seats were last contested in 2018, is downplaying its chances both regionally and nationally.
Labour activists are pouring cold water on the idea of their party conquering the Tory strongholds of both Wandsworth and Westminster in London, while the Tories are saying Starmer’s party should make huge gains at this point in the electoral cycle.
Back in Tiverton, there was dismay that the quiet had been disturbed for all the wrong reasons – and a weary sense that under Johnson and his team it would never end.
Katy Oakley, 40, an ecologist, was walking through the town with her four-year-old daughter, Olive. “This sums up what everybody thinks about the government, another shocking incident in a long line.
“I think it shows just how out of touch members of the elite are with normal society. They think they can get away with things that ordinary people couldn’t.
“This isn’t brilliant publicity for our town – it puts Tiverton in a bad light. It’s not good for the country’s image abroad. And it’s not good for society.”
Though he lives on his farm across the border in Somerset, Parish is a well-known figure in Tiverton. He was first elected 12 years ago and since then has doubled his majority.
The North Devon Tory MP, Selaine Saxby, said Parish had always been a loyal and supportive colleague. But she expressed shock: “Nobody wants to think of their MP sat on the green benches watching videos full stop, certainly not this kind of video.”
Happily for the Tories on Mid Devon district council, which is based in Tiverton, councillors are not up for election this spring.
“I guess that’s a good thing,” said Ray Radford, a senior Conservative currently serving as the chairman of the council.
At the indoor market, Jane Hall, 56, summed up much of the anger. “When people are scrimping and scraping, he’s sat there apparently watching porn. He should be sacked but he’s got Boris as his role model. He was having a party when people were dying.”
• This article was amended on 1 May 2022. An earlier version incorrectly stated that the Kirklees council area included Wakefield.
