In the spotlight after their MP resigned in disgrace as deputy leader last week, the people of the constituency appear to have had enough of Chris Pincher and the Prime Minister. “Boris Johnson just needs to go,” said Tayla Pownall, 20, who works in a takeaway. As for Pincher, who remains the city’s MP, he said: “It’s not a good look. Tamworth gets a bad rap, but that makes it worse.” Emily Turner, 24, a sales manager, went further. “I think Pincher is disgusting. They are all the same. Old white men. They are entitled to do whatever they want. He should be prosecuted. he certainly shouldn’t be an MP.” Some local councilors privately agree that Pincher’s days are numbered, but none will be written. “We’ve been told by our local Conservative union in no uncertain terms that we must not speak to the media if we want to keep our jobs,” said one. But they were clearly furious. “It’s a complete and utter mess. The fact that Chris Pincher is still in place is disappointing,” they said. “What Boris is advocating, and saying through his teeth that he didn’t know what was going on, is just taking away from the hard work of many party members and MPs and councilors across the country and bringing everyone into disrepute.” And Pincher and Johnson have to go, the councilman said. The same source said the Tamworth Tories were divided over Pincher “between those who support him and would consider him a very good friend and have a sense of ‘everyone is innocent until proven guilty’ and then there’s the other end of it spectrum that he says “I never want to see him again”. Tamworth has been Conservative since 2010, when Pincher was elected after holding a Labor seat for 13 years. Jo Elyafi, 46, had had contact with Pincher in the past when her son was undergoing cancer treatment. “We asked him for help with the disability benefits my son was entitled to. He ignored my Facebook messages for over a week. When I wrote to him, he sent a very pompous reply saying that I already replied to you. He did it a week later.” Joe Elyafi. Photo: Andrew Fox/The Guardian Elyafi’s anger extends to the entire Tory party. “I don’t like any of the Tories, they are scum. Boris Johnson is a disgrace,” he said. Voted Labor under Jeremy Corbyn in the past. “Corbyn was a fair man who was true to himself. Keir Starmer is not the same. He tries to play along with what will earn him points. He’s trying to be something he thinks other people want.” He does not know who he would vote for in the event of a repeat election. Narinder Gohil wishes the government would do more for small businesses. Photo: Andrew Fox/The Guardian Narinder Gohil, 59, who runs a boutique in the city center, has voted Conservative in the past, including in 2019. She did so as she felt it was in her best interests as a small business owner. Scandals aside, he believes the government is not doing enough for small businesses. “We are middle of the road small business owners and they are destroying us. The corporate tax bracket needs to be higher so that we can keep more of our profits,” Gohil said. Although he is not a fan of the prime minister, he does not believe that getting rid of him will magically solve the problems facing the country. “Even if we take Boris out of the equation, we’ll be stuck. Whoever we have, I don’t think anyone can do the job right.”
