After one of the most explosive weeks in British parliamentary history, the town of Richmond might offer warring politicians a model on how to stay calm and find consensus on the Brexit crisis gripping the country.
A Leave supporting area — it voted 57 per cent to 43 per cent in favour of Brexit in the 2016 referendum — the North Yorkshire town is home to Brenda Hale, the president of the UK’s highest court, which ruled on Tuesday that Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament for five weeks was “unlawful”.
The Supreme Court ruling forced the prime minister and MPs back to Westminster a day later, where he used a House of Commons statement to reiterate his “do or die” Brexit strategy, sparking howls of outrage from opposition MPs over his combative language.
While tempers in Westminster were reaching boiling point, Richmond residents were assembling in the market square to watch competitors speed through on one stretch of the world road cycling championship. Dressed for the occasion in ceremonial attire, Stuart Parsons, the independent chair of the district council, spoke for many in the crowd.
“I support the court’s decision,” he said. “Boris Johnson created this emergency. He misled the Queen and lied to parliament,” he said. “He is a funny guy, but he is dangerous.”
While other Richmond residents disagreed, all spoke respectfully about Lady Hale, firmly rejecting the ugly mood that has left some female pro-EU MPs fearing for their safety.
“The last thing anyone in Richmond would want is for Lady Hale to be placed at risk,” said Philip Wilkes, chair of the town’s local library consortium.
“There is something stubborn and stoical about the attitudes we have that is built around the castle which has been here for a thousand years, and will be here long beyond Brexit,” added David Todd, a local hotelier, who occasionally hosts the baroness at his restaurant near the market square.
“Maybe that explains where Brenda’s strength and courage comes from. There’s many folk like that here in Richmond capable of blocking out the noise,” he said. Lady Hale of Richmond is a much loved figure in the town, he added.
When she’s not setting a constitutional precedent in London, she often makes the 250 mile journey home. She can be found shopping at the local butchers, browsing at the bookshop, and patronising local charities.
At the state high school, which she attended in the 1950s before becoming its first student to go to the University of Cambridge, teachers said she is a role model for the girls.
The town’s Tory mayor, Jonathan Preece, described the decision she presided over, with unanimous support from 10 other judges, as “brave”, given all the “hidden pressures”.
But was this, as some of Mr Johnson supporters have been quick to suggest, another example of the liberal establishment frustrating 17.4m people who voted to leave the EU?
“You can spin it that way,” the mayor replied, just as the cyclists were flying past. “But you have to trust in the experience within the legal system and separate that populist message from the rule of law.”
Several men, propping up a beer stand, had a different view of how Mr Johnson’s bid to present himself as a tribune of the people might resonate across majority Leave voting constituencies such as Richmond in any future election.
The prime minister and his allies in the ruling Conservative party have hinted at their intention to campaign on “the people versus parliament” in a general election they hope will be called soon to break the deadlock. In particular, they are eyeing Labour constituencies in the north of England that voted for Leave and where people may have grown frustrated at the party’s ambiguous position on Brexit.
“He [Mr Johnson] has put his head in the noose standing up for what we voted for like nobody else,” said Chris Wallace, who runs a local microbrewery.
Mick Wood, a local plumber, went further: “I am a socialist at heart. But for the first time ever I will have to vote Conservative. Labour has no chance around here,” he said, accusing MPs of engaging in point scoring rather than delivering on the “people’s will”.
Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s chief adviser, on Thursday warned that if MPs continue frustrating Brexit, they risk provoking violent protests comparable to those led by the gilets jaunes movement across the Channel.
But could that really happen in Britain? “If this was happening in France, there would be a revolution. We are much too staid,” said Mr Wood.
At the nearby Comrades Club, once a redoubt for the servicemen housed at the Catterick garrison, three miles south of the town, good humour masked yet more disagreement. Barmaid Courtney said Mr Johnson had no right to shut parliament down “just because MPs disagreed with him”.
Tony, a retired builder, added that in the old days anyone breaking the service club rules would have been marched out. But he said somebody had to take charge and get Brexit done. “It’s got to the point where they are taking the piss.”
Mr Todd, the hotelier, believed the only way out was compromise. “There will always be hundreds of different views in parliament. But the anger playing out before us is fruitless,” he said. “They have to find a solution that reflects the views outside the House.”
