On their way out: Chris Philp, alongside PM (for now) Rishi Sunak, at a Conservative gathering in Purley this lunchtime. Part-time Perry, Croydon’s Tory Mayor (left of image) appears confused
PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: They thought it was some kind of secret liaison at their local HQ in Purley.
But WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, reports on the last roll of the dice by Croydon’s Tory MP
Photos: GEORGE BURDICK and HUNTER SQUIRES
Times is tough for “Congo” Chris Philp, who faces the real prospect of having his parliamentary career washed away in tomorrow’s predicted General Election Labour landslide.
Today’s opinion polls show the Conservatives about to lose true blue Croydon South to Labour in tomorrow’s election – the first time that Purley, Kenley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Coulsdon have ever gone red.
With the latest Survation large-scale poll showing Labour a stonking 16% ahead of the Tories in Croydon South, a seat where Philp enjoyed a comfortable 12,000-vote majority in 2019, desperate times call for desperate measures, and so at noon today, who should appear at Croydon Tories’ HQ in Purley but Rishi Sunak, the struggling Conservative Prime Minister.
Could things truly get any worse for Philp?
John Crace, the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer, and Victoria Derbyshire, the BBC’s presenter on Newsnight, must be dreading the potential end of Philp’s career as a Tory front-bencher. Who will be the butt of their jokes in future? Who could possibly sit through a grilling of “Why should we trust you?” and appear completely unperturbed, like some Rimmer-like hologram, other than Philp?
Suburban semi: Chris Philp’s last, big election rally – staged in the garden of a Purley house with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Perhaps “irreplaceable” is appropriate for the erstwhile Conservative MP.
Beware. There are some, of the left and of the right, who do not trust the polling figures. Labour have a weak candidate in Croydon South. How has their lead stretched from 2% a week ago to 15%? And what of the “Croydon Effect”, of voters who live in the borough bankrupted by Labour, actively voting for the party of Tony Newman, Alison Butler and Paul Scott?
“If Labour couldn’t win in the Park Hill and Whitgift council by-election in May, they won’t win Croydon South in July,” a senior Croydon Conservative told Inside Croydon this week.
Nonetheless, it is symbolic that on, probably, his last ever full day as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Rishi Sunak should stop off just over the road from Tesco Purley to show his support for Philp, the geezer who helped crash the economy when a Treasury minister under Thick Lizzy Truss.
The gathering, such as it was, was symptomatic of the ho-hum election, and the distanced politics of the political elite in 2024. It was held in the back garden of a suburban semi (Croydon Tories’ long-time office), with little, if any, engagement with the voting public. This was just for Conservative supporters, a rallying of the troops before tomorrow’s day-long effort to get the vote out.
Captive audience: PM Sunak was surrounded by loyal supporters
It is payback, of a kind, for all those early morning media rounds that “Congo” Chris has blundered his way through on TV and on radio in defence of the Tory indefensible, straight batting like some political Chris Tavare, never deviating off his line, but never scoring many runs, either.
It’s a shame that Philp never accepted Inside Croydon’s invitation to answer the Croydon Election Questions – we wanted to know what it must be like to be a human punchbag on behalf of probably the most discredited government in British history. Is he still bruised by the experience? Are there scars?
The polling figures today are almost unremittingly grim for Sunak, Philp and the Tories, with the LibDems making gains where Labour doesn’t – in Carshalton and Wallington, and in Wimbledon, where the Tories are even predicted to fall to third place.
But in little more than 24 hours, we will have the real results. And the likes of Ben Taylor, Sarah Jones, Steve Reed and that ex-Merton councillor who somehow will become an MP, will really be answerable for their actions.
Read more: ‘All I see is a divided country, with more racism and more upset’
Read more: The fundamental dishonesty around this dog-whistle election
Read more: This is Tory Britain in 2024: ‘Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel’
Read more: Voters being taken for granted as ‘battleground’ moves south
Read more: Younger people have had their futures sold down the river
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Labour bankrupted this borough. If the electorate trusts them, they will pay. And it will be the PAYE taxpayers footing the bill. Whether Cons or Labour win the GE, the PAYE taxpayer will pay. Labours “more money in your pocket” is a delusion. Better listen to the head of the IFS…
After 14 years of a government of austerity and latterly of chaos, you appear to have forgotten that we all have a bigger tax burden than ever before.
There remains significant grounds for scepticism that the alternative will be any better.
the more things ‘change’, the more they stay the same
Paul Johnson, the IFS Director, said on Labour’s manifesto
“This was not a manifesto for those looking for big numbers. The public service spending increases promised in the “costings” table are tiny, going on trivial. The tax rises, beyond the inevitable reduced tax avoidance, even more trivial. The biggest commitment, to the much vaunted “green prosperity plan”, comes in at no more than £5 billion a year, funded in part by borrowing and in part by “a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants”.”
Much ado about nothing.
For no change, vote Labour
Sense you are more of a Reform voter, Arfur? Or possibly even worse? My skin crawls……
Don’t worry Sue, your political antennae are on the blink at the moment. Tell us, what could be worse than “Reform”?
My abiding memory of Chris Philp is him being called a liar by Mick Lynch (RMT) 15 times.
Where were the unions when the Post Office Masters needed them?
More drivel.
Post Office sub-postmasters (please note) are/were in the main self-employed small business people, and as such rarely unionised. Their trade association was for a long time part-funded by the Post Office, and so was no independent of the company.
The National Federation of SubPostmasters massively let down their members. Their boss, George Thompson, admitted as much in the inquiry.
Saying we should vote for Labour because Liz Truss crashed the economy, seems to be repeated again and again. BBC Verify looked into the actual effect Liz Truss’ policies had on the economy, and the effect was minor in the grand scheme of things. Interest rates went up in the immediate aftermath but within 3 to 4 weeks they were on a level that were forecast by the Bank of England regardless of what Liz Truss had implemented. It show how weak that argument is, yet it is relied on so heavily by opponents of the government.
Utter drivel.
There are many residents in Croydon South, and across the country, who are paying double their monthly mortgage payments because of the damage caused by that mini-budget by Thick Lizzy and KamiKwasi Kwarteng (with Philp sat alongside him).
Mind you, remember that Farridge hailed it as the best budget for a generation…
Factor in the cost of living crisis, which that budget and interest rate hikes made worse, and there is good cause never to trust the Conservatives for financial responsibility for many a year.
Absolute rubbish. You need to read more than the Express newspaper and open your eyes. You are basing your understanding of the Truss fiscal-fuck-up on BBC verify? Give me strength.
Can’t wait to see the Croydon results on Sunday.
Hilarious.
You do realise that in 2019, before the borough bankruptcy, before many experienced staff were made redundant, and before Kerswell took charge of our election counts, Croydon declared its second constituency result at 6am on the Friday, and its third one at 6.30am. None of the results were even close.
The Orkneys did their election results quicker than Croydon.
Blimey OJ Philp calling in a favour to keep his gang of leaflet deliverers on side and on message. Does all suggest that his own private polling is saying he is in deep trouble. If he could have only developed a personality, it may have assisted him to prevent a moment that many really still can’t contemplate.
Surely Lord Barwell can advise on how to win a marginal seat? Or was that lose?
We *think* we’ve spotted his lordship, grinning inanely at the back of a Philp canvassing selfie. Certainly, son of Barwell has provided Philp with an endorsement (for what’s that’s worth). So after five years being semi-detached from the Tory Party, is this the return of Barwell in Philp’s hour of need?
I wonder how Lord Barwell’s lobbying business is going to work when you can count the number of Tory MPs on a mitten …
Barmy is writing a sequel to his best-selling “How to win a marginal seat”. It’s a brief biography of Chris Philp, to be entitled “How to lose a safe seat”
I recall being a resident in Croydon South when William Clark was MP and his vote was 25,000 to 30,000. I will watch avidly to see what Philp manages to achieve.
“They thought it was some kind of secret liaison at their local HQ”
Secret is the word. Everything is so stage managed. And this is true for almost all parties. Groups of party loyalists pound the streets … But interact with more than one person at a time…? The leaders only appear at party rallies or in their own videos … Or at workplaces where the employees won’t heckle because their boss might sack them. Honestly, if I was working in Morrisons I’d be afraid to put a high viz on in case Rishi popped out of nowhere to make another speech. So remote from ordinary people… Whenever I see one of these events in the media or on telly I feel the same disconnect… Like they’re a different class to us…
See our latest piece on the contemptuous attitude of candidates to public scrutiny
Love the cricket metaphor! Sunak’s last full day as PM will be tomorrow, unless something incredible happens and the Liberal Democrats win over a hundred seats and Labour only get around 310 and we have a coalition or some sort of confidence and supply agreement. I can dream! If that doesn’t happen the King will appoint the new PM on Friday meaning that will be Sunak’s last partial day in the job. Pedantic I know.