It’s civil war in Canterbury – and Boris is besieged by a student army
In his latest dispatch from vital Election battlegrounds, our columnist meets the twin threats – young Remainers and war-weary Brexiteers
CHRIS Attenborough has fished all his life. But this morning he hates the sea. ‘It’s a grim job,’ he says, hauling his pots across Whitstable wharf to his boat Holladays. ‘Catching oysters is dirty and smelly and you don’t get the excitement. I’d like to be out after fins – bass or sole. But the EU cut our catch.’
Whitstable is wrapped in a melancholic winter blanket. The beach chalets are boarded. The hut offering tours of the bay padlocked. But behind the chilly tranquillity, a battle is raging.
I’m standing in the constituency of Canterbury. Once a safe Conservative seat, Labour’s Rosie Duffield snatched it in 2017 by 187 votes. And unless Boris Johnson snatches it back, he’s in trouble.
Davy Judd, Chris’s crewmate, should be nailed on. A passionate Brexiteer, he appreciates the Prime Minister’s struggle to get us out of the EU. His views on Jeremy Corbyn are unprintable. But at the moment, he’s abstaining.
‘I’m considering boycotting the whole thing,’ he tells me. ‘I just don’t think we count. To any of them.’
He should have the option of voting for Brexit Party candidate Owen Prew. But this is the General Election of 2019, the most bizarre in living memory. And Prew had other ideas.
‘It’s odd,’ the Brexit Party official admitted. ‘I’ve been trying Owen but he’s not answering his phone. And I’m getting a foreign ringtone.’ Later, I break the news Prew hasn’t filed his nomination papers.
‘Oh well,’ comes the phlegmatic response. ‘We haven’t got a candidate then.’
Which is welcome news for Anna Firth. The Conservative hopeful strides into The Artichoke pub in Chartham with steely purpose. The villages surrounding central Canterbury are a Tory vote mine. But she’s acutely aware every single one will count. Tom, a retired farrier, had told me he and his dog Dizzy never take part in elections. But after fi ve minutes with Firth they’re into the ‘possible’ column.
HER analysis is Tory support’s returning after the local elections, while Labour’s vote is soft. ‘You can tell how things are going in your lessgood areas by the abuse you get. And it’s good. I’ve only had one person tell me to f*** off.’
But despite her Labour doorstep resilience, Firth knows her route to Westminster lies in enticing back Brexit Party supporters. ‘They say “Look I’m not happy, but I get the crack. We’ve got to stand together on this.” They seem to be getting it. That we’re the only party that is actually going to deliver Brexit.’
Unfortunately, that message is also resonating loudly with Brexit’s opponents. In 2016, Canterbury district virtually mirrored the nation, voting 51 per cent to 49 per cent to leave. But part of that Leave vote was concentrated in the rural and coastal wards of neighbouring North Thanet.
The narrow lanes of central Canterbury are a Remain stronghold. And its Praetorian Guard is the city’s 40,000 students population, the second largest in the country.
At the Penny Theatre bar pool table, Daniel Symonds pots a red into the centre pocket and explains he’s ‘fairly Labour’. The English Lit undergraduate isn’t fond of Jeremy Corbyn and thinks Boris ‘is good at what he does’. But he’ll be voting for Rosie Duffield, along with friends Gus Walters and Rhys Evans. ‘We don’t want Brexit,’ he says.
Lucas Brackstone, studying business management, is by his own admission a novelty. ‘I’m a Conservative and I back Boris’s deal,’ he tells me. I ask how many others there are like him on campus. Answer: ‘Two.’
Jodie Cherrell, Louise Demrey and Chloe Harris – who attend Canterbury Christ Church University – are all voting Labour. ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s down to earth, he’s relatable,’ Louise tells me. Jodie, a selfdescribed socialist, agrees. She voted Remain, while Chloe and Louise will be voting for the first time. For them, December 12 is the Brexit Referendum.
Rosie Duffield certainly hopes so. While Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for his confused position on Brexit, she has Remain in her
DNA. ‘We took six coaches down for the People’s Vote march,’ she tells me proudly, before revealing she’s on first-name terms with the anti-Brexit protesters on permanent vigil outside the Commons.
She acknowledges differences with Corbyn but claims they’re not an issue. ‘If you’re a fan of a football club, you stay a fan no matter who the manager is. And if people don’t like Jeremy and don’t warm to him, he’s what, 71? He won’t be around for ever.’ This is Duffield’s pitch.
She will take a stand on Brexit, even if her leader won’t. ‘I’m pretty well known for having rebelled [ on Brexit]. The number one thing for me is doing what the constituency voted for, and what I think and hear and feel they want. I’ve been consistent all the way through.’
It’s this consistency she believes will guide her to victory. But again, this is the campaign of 2019, and nothing is quite that simple.
Last Tuesday, Duffield’s path to re- election seemed clear when Lib Dem candidate Tim Walker dramatically abandoned the seat. Local activists reportedly refused to campaign for any replacement, fearful of inadvertently handing Canterbury to a Brexiteer. But Jo Swinson insisted there could be no cosy backroom deals with Labour.
Which is why actress Claire Malcomson – ‘last year I did a onewoman show about Elizabeth Taylor’ – has found herself thrust on to the national stage. A councillor in Dorking, she’s made the 90-minute dash to meet local party members for the first time, an event she describes to me as ‘robust but supportive’.
But what Malcomson lacks in local knowledge, she makes up for in tenacity. ‘Why back down? You’re not giving people anyone to vote for. If you feel passionate about something and you believe in something, you don’t back down and stop speaking out. You speak out more.’
IT WOULD be easy to be distracted by the madcap nature of the Election race in Canterbury. But there are undercurrents with implications for the wider political picture. And they should give Boris Johnson cause for concern. Brexit has been described as a civil war. But in reality, it’s two civil wars, being fought in parallel. There’s the fight for the Brexit vote between the Tories and the Brexit Party – an increasingly vicious struggle, despite the half- baked Farage peace offering. And there’s the battle for the Remain vote being contested with equal ferocity by Labour and the Lib Dems. Whichever side prevails decisively will win this Election.
Up until now, the assumption has been it’s Brexit voters who will damn the politicians who have defied their wishes. But it’s a dangerous assumption.
The university vote could sway seats like Canterbury. Almost every student I spoke to was planning to back Labour to stop Brexit and was registered in the constituency. Had polling been a few days later, term would have ended, and they’d have dispersed. As it is, they will vote as a block against Boris.
Another issue is the disillusionment I heard from the likes of Davy Judd. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard the same litany from passionate Brexiteers. ‘I voted for Brexit once. I’m not doing it again. They can just go on and do it.’
And the Brexiteers don’t have a monopoly on passion. Remainers recognise this is their final chance to derail Brexit. They are motivated and mobilised. And if the Remain vote starts to coalesce, this Election could be much closer than people think.
Just before I left town, I visited the cathedral. On the edge of the presbytery, a book of proverbs had been opened in preparation for evening service. Its lesson was The Nature Of Folly: ‘Whoever digs a pit will fall into it.’
Boris must pray he hasn’t dug a pit for himself in Canterbury.