Whenever we knock on doors in Calder Valley, we always get feedback from huge Boris fans that they are still annoyed with us for his demise as our Prime Minister.
It was no surprise then that we hear that Boris is to hit the campaign trail again in the red wall seats to shore up support.
I am not convinced this is a great strategy, just as I am also not convinced that Margaret Thatcher would be as brilliant a Prime Minister today as she was 40 years ago.
Each have had their moment in history; one grasped history with open arms and grasped every inch of her opportunity, whilst the other squandered his huge majority and chance at being one of history’s greats. You do not get a second chance.
Craig Whittaker believes Rishi Sunak is the right man to lead the Tory campaign and not Boris Johnson
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When you analyse the average doorstep, Boris is quite divisive. The challenge then is to know whether Boris is an asset to any campaign or a negative drag.
Having been out with Boris when he was PM, there is no denying it was like being on the doorstep with a rock star.
Crowds amassed with people hanging out of windows to take photos and cheer. He really was incredibly popular with the electorate and an asset to any campaign back then.
The other side of this coin is, even when he was Prime Minister, Boris was not that popular with our core vote and particularly, women.
Nonetheless, whilst some of our core vote would simply prefer not to vote at all than vote Labour, the majority would still vote Conservative.
The added value of Boris for me locally, was to target the aspirational workers who live on social housing estates, as they were the ones who Boris appealed to the most. He spoke their language.
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Whittaker claims that Boris was never popular with the Tory core vote
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When votes were counted at the last local election count when Boris was PM, we won every social housing estate in Calder Valley.
Those aspirational workers are the ones today who are angry with us for not standing by Boris; they don’t consider his demise as self-inflicted. Our core vote are the ones that never mention him.
By sheer coincidence, I notice that Lord Ashcroft produced the result of his latest poll where he asked the question as to whether certain public figures would be an asset or a liability on the next campaign trail.
I, for one, was not surprised that from Lord Ashcroft’s sample poll of 5,299 people, voters, as a whole, thought that Boris would be a liability to the Tory campaign by 59 per cent to 20 per cent (with 2019 Tories saying the same by the narrower margin of 43 per cent to 37 per cent).
I have always liked Rishi Sunak, both as a colleague in Parliament as well as a fellow Yorkshire MP.
I can honestly say that whenever I have been in his personal company, he is incredibly charming, and when his wife is there too, I have never seen a room worked with such panache and expertise.
Whittaker claims that Sunak and his wife are an 'incredible team'
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They are an incredible team and I always come away feeling that we are in safe hands.
We had the privilege of a visit this month from Rishi to Calder Valley where he did a ‘meet and greet’ morning with over 150 people in one of our local pubs.
Not only did he blow the room away, but everyone he met was buzzing with excitement and confidence when he left.
It was ironic that one of my local core voters after said to me: “Thank goodness the parliamentary party finally came to their senses.”
On this basis, I believe it is a mistake to have Boris as a campaign tool in the up-and-coming campaign.
Rishi should be the one out on the doorsteps of the red wall and have his A-team with him – including his wife.
