Rage of dismayed Tories threatens backlash in key marginal

Anger about Brexit runs deep in Putney. The riverside community voted 75 per cent Remain — one of the most emphatic results in London.

But it is also a highly marginal Conservative parliamentary constituency, whose MP Justine Greening finds herself in the crossfire between voters who — like her — are deeply opposed to Brexit, and others who are furious that Theresa May has failed to deliver.

As the European elections loom, it seems only one party is the focus of voters’ ire — the Tories. Finishing a row on the Thames, Julia Barnes said: “I was against Brexit. I would like a second referendum. It’s so divisive, it is ripping the country apart.”

The former management consultant, in her fifties, said she has begun to feel “let’s get it done” in the hope that a positive outcome will be found.

“I think the Tories will be affected,” she said of the election. “Whether it’s right or wrong, there will be negativity. I think [Tory voters] want someone to get it done.”

Her friend Margie, a 46-year-old teacher, is unhappy at how Brexit has been handled. “Theresa May should have had a proper plan before calling Article 50,” she said.

“They should have had talks cross-party, then they would have realised that it’s not so simple and perhaps we need to rethink.”

About 600ft away traffic trundles across Putney Bridge, where double bass player Ben Griffiths, 39, has stepped out of rehearsals at St Mary’s Church for a break.

“They are going to be kicked,” he said of the Tories. “There is no leadership. After the referendum, half the country were annoyed with Theresa May, now all the country is annoyed.”

He planned to vote for a Remain-backing party, and felt frustrated that Change UK had “missed a trick” by not forming a joint anti-Brexit ticket with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

At the end of a parade of independent shops in Lacy Road, is Jerusalem Costumes, which has been in business for 25 years. Long-time Conservative voter Juliet Harris, 55, who runs the shop with her partner, said she probably will not bother supporting her party on May 23.

“Brexit is a farce. I think it’s embarrassing for us abroad. I did vote to Leave and I suppose that’s the reason I’m not voting because I feel that it doesn’t matter. We voted out and we’ve got all this faffing about,” she said.

Where does this leave former Cabinet minister Ms Greening, whose majority has been slashed from 10,000 in the 2010 and 2015 elections, to just over 1,500 at the 2017 election?

“Brexit cuts across party politics, and communities like my own want the path forward on Brexit resolved, not least for jobs and business investment to be protected,” said the MP, who backs a second referendum. Local people do not want “an unsustainable stitch-up deal” between Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn, she said, but “to have their say in a confirmatory referendum”.

Will her stand be rewarded by Putney’s Remain majority at the next Westminster election? Or could a Brexit backlash carry her away?

Labour is the main challenger in the area — and ran the Conservatives close in the Wandsworth borough elections last year.

Lauren O’Donnell, from Belfast, who works at the Swedish-owned “Nordic living” shop Blabar in Lacy Road, said: “I would get behind a party that would back a People’s Vote. That might not be where Labour are at the moment but I’m hoping they will eventually go behind it.”

Pepe Mallardo, the owner of Italian cafe Giuliano, a fixture in Putney for 20 years, turned over a huge oven dish of pasta and said: “Brexit is a mess. A big mess.” The referendum argument will not affect his vote: “I am a Labour voter. My father was Labour.”

Alongside £3 million-plus Edwardian villas in streets such as Hazlewell Road, trendy apartments have shot up at the Wandsworth end of the neighbourhood, pulling in young professionals, many from outside the UK.

Mother Tay Roe, 32, said: “I would rather we left quicker than this. Brexit should have been dealt with by now.”

Some voters have yet to find any party they are prepared to trust. Amy Lee, 28, on maternity leave from her job in insurance, voted Leave but is horrified at how Brexit has turned out, and confused about who to vote for on May 23.

“I don’t have a clue. I voted to leave and now with everything that’s happened, I would probably if I had a choice choose to remain.” She grimaced: “We had no idea what a mess it would be.”