Bickley voters say they don't care about Downing Street lockdown parties

Social gatherings at Downing Street amid Covid restrictions have become a defining issue in national political coverage over the last few months – but Bickley voters said it wouldn’t influence their vote.

The neighbourhood is a safe Conservative ward whose candidates include the current council leader Colin Smith.

The ward voted overwhelmingly for three Tory councillors in the last local election in 2018.

Due to boundary changes, the ward changes this year to become Bickley & Sundridge.

There was a mix of opinions in the Tory stronghold of Bickley ahead of the elections (photo: Kiro Evans)

The ward is one of many in Bromley that is solidly Conservative, with the Tories in charge of the borough for all by three years since 1964.

Walking through Bickley yesterday, a woman called MJ said she is a Conservative voter and will continue to support them this year.

Asked whether she cared about Downing Street parties, she said: “No absolutely not, I couldn’t give a damn about it.

"There’s more things like Ukraine to be worried about than that crap that we’re told he’s committed this or that offence. It’s so pathetic.”

Dad Dan Smith also said he wasn’t bothered about the scandal, but would be turning his back on the party nonetheless.

He said: “I think if it was me and my mates we would have had a beer as well.

"I can’t really say that I didn’t have mates over. There’s bigger issues.”

But he added: “I’ll vote for anyone who’s not a Tory because of Brexit for a start.  I voted Tory my whole life and I just wouldn’t ever again.

Bickley was won easily by the Conservatives in the 2018 Local Elections (photo: Kiro Evans)

"Since Brexit, when they basically got rid of anyone with any competency just for loyalty. [Now] it’s like having the C-team in charge.

"They’re all useless.”

Other voters expressed doubts over the major parties, and said they were not sure what box they would be ticking on May 5.

Local resident Susane Murphy said: “I don’t really know, is the answer. I normally vote Conservative, as I don’t like Labour’s policies, but now they’re all so bad, so I don’t really know.

"Sometimes just to be perverse, I look at the list and think maybe an independent.”

A few streets down, Tory voter Maame Kwarteng said she thought the issue of parties was “not right” but added she may vote for the Conservatives again along with an independent Christian party.

Some wards in Bromley are expected to be fiercely contested amid speculation in national media that some Conservative councils in London could be vulnerable.

But multiple Conservative sources close to the council have stressed issues such as partygate were not coming up on doorsteps anymore, and local issues mattered more.

One said: “Boris is a divisive figure and partygate used to come up a lot. People were annoyed and rightly so – but I’ve not heard anything on partygate for a very long time.”

They added that locals differentiated between national and local politics, and said Bromley’s “freeze” on the borough element of council tax was being seen favourably.

The Liberal Democrats say the cost of living crisis and phrases like “you can’t trust Boris” have come up regularly on the doorstep.

One canvasser who has knocked on thousands of doors said the Tories were being described locally in “colourful language,” but added they feared the disullusionment could spread to a wider annoyance of politicians from all parties.

They added that issues like road safety in Bromley were a hot topic and believed the Conservative council could lose around 20 seats “if everyone pulls their fingers out”.

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