Stockton may be a s---hole, say residents after James Cleverly apologises for swearing about MP
Many proud villagers would be aghast to hear their home described as a “s---hole”, but in Stockton, locals admitted that the Home Secretary might have a point.
James Cleverly was accused of making the remark on Wednesday in the House of Commons, although he denied it and sources later said he had instead called the Alex Cunningham, the local Labour MP, “s---”.
But Marius Dolhan, 59, who has been a taxi driver in the Co Durham area for nearly 15 years, admitted “obviously it’s not paradise and probably never will be”.
Mr Dolhan told The Telegraph: “He’s not the only one who would say that.
“The language is a bit strong, but to be honest I’ve heard many customers over the years who kept saying, ‘Oh who is coming to Stockton? No one comes here because Stockton has nothing to offer’.”
Billingham, a town within Stockton North, was once a bustling hub of industry.
Less than a century ago, manufacturing giant Imperial Chemical Industries made fertilisers, plastics and an ammonia used for explosives during WWII in its Billingham plant.
Today, its town centre is among the 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country, with shuttered shops and several derelict buildings greeting visitors.
Ads for properties in an estate agent window suggested asking prices were far from healthy – with a one-bed leasehold on the market for as little as £55,000.
Former care worker Christine Barron, a resident of almost four decades, told The Telegraph: “To be honest I do think they could do with trying to tidy this area up around here. I’ve lived here 38 years – it has changed drastically.”
The 70-year-old added: “We used to have fruit shops, there were more butcher shops, as well as clothes and shoe shops.”
Cleverly apologises for ‘unparliamentary language’
Concerns about the area were raised by Mr Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, at Prime Minister’s Questions this week. He asked Rishi Sunak why a third of children in the constituency live in poverty.
It was at this point, Mr Cunningham claimed, that Mr Cleverly remarked: “Because it’s a s---hole.”
In the ensuing row, Ben Houchen, the Tory mayor of Tees Valley, demanded an apology from the Cabinet minister for “dragging Stockton’s name through the mud”.
A source close to Mr Cleverly later said the Home Secretary had in fact called Mr Cunningham “ a s--- MP”, and that he had apologised for his use of “unparliamentary language”.
The source added that the minister would “never criticised Stockton” having campaigned in the town and was clear that it “is a great place”.
‘Government needs to reinvest in area’
But local barista Alison Mason said she had seen between 10 and 12 shops close in recent years.
She added: “If that was what he said, then the Government needs to reinvest in the area and provide some prospects for people.
“I would like to see money invested first and foremost in the town centre.”
She added: “Even if they just offered the units half price rent, for six months, at least it would be bringing something into the town – whereas at the moment everything is just standing empty.”
Ms Mason, 49, said her son had struggled to find work in his hometown as a university student – and applied for around 15 jobs before he got a role at a local supermarket.
The mother, who works at independent café The Coffee Pot, suggested Mr Cleverly may have made the comments because the area was “really run down”, but said: “It’s not always about the material things, even if it might be a s---hole.”
She added: “The majority of people in Stockton are so friendly, it sounds like such a cliché, but the people who come in here are more like friends. We are so busy sometimes that we have people who have never met before sharing tables.”
Stockton is ‘not paradise’
Mr Dolhan lives south of the constituency and stressed that new builds in the area had been “snapped up by buyers”.
But he said he and other local taxi drivers had observed that the number of areas popular with drug users had increased in recent years.
He added: “Obviously it’s not paradise and probably never will be. But you just need to be able to sort the good from the bad.
“I think if you shop around a bit, you can find your spot in Stockton North, because there’s a mixed bag.”
In Aldi, free copies of the local free paper, Stockton & Billingham, suggested a brighter and more prosperous future. One story heralded the long-awaited £20 million Levelling Up Grant – which has been granted to Billingham after two failed applications for the cash.
But some local politicians were less willing to forgive and forget.
Mick Stoker, 70, a Labour councillor from the Billingham East ward, said: “[Mr Cleverly] is clearly on cloud cuckoo land. I live here and everybody here has great respect for our town.
“Just tell him to come up and visit us and we will give him the welcome he deserves.”
