Voters in the former mining town of Edlington struggled to name the Tories hoping to be the UK’s next Prime Minister but all agreed one thing: ‘None of them would last a day in our lives.’
Ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak was the most recognised, followed by ex-Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
But nobody could name Attorney General Suella Braverman, Brexit enthusiast Steve Baker, the new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, trade minister Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace or former soldier Tom Tugendhat.
And only one person we approached in the South Yorkshire town recognised former Cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt.
The Don Valley constituency was in Labour ’s Red Wall of Northern seats for almost 100 years before Tory Nick Fletcher won in 2019.
Barmaid Karina Craven, 39, a mum-of-seven, told how she was struggling more than ever and had just visited a food bank for the first time.
She could name Sunak, Truss and Javid and said she was glad Boris was gone, partly because of his lockdown parties.
She said of the outgoing PM: “It’s disgusting what he’s done. I lost my mum during Covid and we could not have a proper funeral for her. I felt really angry when I found out.”
“It’s hard at the moment, the electric bills are horrendous. I’ve had to go to the foodbank today for the first time so I feel a bit demoralised. I’ve never had to do it before.”
Mechanic John Quinn, 53, didn’t vote Tory because he didn’t vote at all but named Rishi among the contenders.
He predicted of the Tory leadership: “Rishi will get it even though he’s a millionaire and his wife is richer, so he doesn’t need to work. But they’re all the same to me. None of them would last a day in my life!
“We work our arses off. When I go home I scrub my knees with a nail brush to get the oil out after a 10-hour shift on the minimum wage.
“Everyone is struggling, but it’s a pit village and we have always struggled.”
He said car parts are now “astronomical” with prices going up by 50 to 100 percent.
“But that’s not because of Brexit, that’s because of the greed of big businesses putting everything up,” he said.
Around the corner from the garage where he works, Tracey and Amy run the Belles and Bows Bridal shop.
They told of working 14-hour days, seven days a week. Both identified pictures of Sunak, Javid and Truss – but agreed all the Tory candidates were clueless about real life.
Tracey said of Boris’s lockdown parties: “I felt betrayed.”
She added: “I knew Rishi would put his name straight in. Rishi has got a lot of money and so has his wife but they won’t take a pay cut!
“We need MPs who live in the real world. Everything is going up. I don’t put the heating on and I have two jobs. I work here and at Morrisons.
"Lurpak is nearly £10. I have to be able to work for nearly an hour to afford that! We need real people in charge, someone to advocate for the working class. MPs need a reality check.”
Her colleague Amy, 32, a mother-of-three, said: “We’re tired and the cost of living is extortionate.
“My husband is a police officer so we both have respectable jobs but we are struggling now and I’m having to do extra shifts in an NHS hospital to pay for childcare, which takes up 90% of my wage. It’s crackers.
“It’s crazy in the NHS, we are short staffed and always on high alert for high capacity.
“They want more out of you for the same money. Inflation has gone sky high while wages remain the same. I’m worse off now than I was years ago.”
Ex-miner Joe Watts, 68, spent 26 years down the Brodsworth Colliery.
The only contender he could name was Sunak, who he called “ Boris Johnson ’s fella”. He added: “A lot of people are now realising that actually going through with Brexit was a mistake.
“But the Tories pushed it and we didn’t hear the other side of the story. Labour MPs didn’t want to talk about it.”
He added: “I’ve been Labour all my life and I want to see some money spent on local housing schemes for pensioners.”
Asked who he will be voting for next, he said: “Everything is upside down at the present. We need to see what the future holds and whether any of them learnt any lessons.”
Sheila Long, 64, recognised most wannabe PMs including “man with the money” Sunak.
She said: “I am buzzing Boris has gone but I don’t want any of these either!
“I’d like Keir Starmer to get in, let’s see what he can do. We need something different.”
School cook, Anne-Marie Tierney, knew the most contenders, but said: “I don’t fancy any of them.
“Since the Tories have been in they’ve closed down care homes, youth clubs and cut buses and Boris has just told lies.”
Philip Davis, 70, recognised some faces but didn’t know any names and said:
“I haven’t got a clue but none of them has a ha’porth of difference between them!”
