Article published by Phil Parry in the Watford Observer:

I’m truly appalled at Boris Johnson’s latest move to divert attention from his failings as Prime Minister by appointing Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay MP as his Chief of Staff – his most senior advisor. Mr Barclay’s first public pronouncement has been to write in the Daily Telegraph “Now it is a priority to restore a smaller State – both financially and in taking a step back from people’s lives”. In other words it’s back to austerity with all the misery that this will involve for most of us. He must live in a different world to me because the people I speak to in Watford want the opposite – a better funded NHS, better funded schools and better social care. Who are these people demanding a return to austerity because I don’t meet them. It’s a pity local MP’s don’t spend more time finding out what their constituents actually think about these issues and then acting accordingly rather than blindly following Party orders.

Philip Parry
SW Herts Labour Party