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
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.
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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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