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Minutes:
The Chair made the following statement:
‘Members and the public will be aware of the formal resignation today of the MP for much of the East Devon district, Mr Neil Parish. This was an unhappy matter and I will not add to the reams of commentary. For historical purposes I recommend Martyn Oates full interview with Mr Parish transmitted on BBC Politics South West last Sunday, still available on iPlayer. Long after all the tractor jokes have gone this will remain as the tragic record of a broken man. It is not possible to condone what he did in the chamber of the House of Commons but in his overnight decision to resign by Saturday morning and the astonishingly frank interview he gave, Mr Parish leaves a long political career having abided by the codes regarding resignation, so blithely ignored by his superiors in the Conservative Party.
However, my purpose in raising this tonight is that this of course has immediate side effects on the work of this district council. Some months ago, a meeting was fixed for last Friday morning from 10am-11am between me, as Leader at EDDC and Mark as our CEO, Neil Parish MP, and Simon Jupp MP. A first-rate agenda on matters of concern for the people of East Devon had been produced from the council end, and all was set fair. There was a poor start when Simon Jupp gave a late apology and didn’t show up. Neil Parish, however, was there on Zoom and we had a good hour with a set of identified outcomes. This is what he agreed he would help us with:
• Mr Parish was to endorse our bid to government under the Levelling Up fund for major works on Seaton seafront, industrial units in Seaton, and regeneration projects in Axminster.
• He said he would personally fight on for the missing £1.6 million his and Mr Jupp’s government promised they would help the council with two years ago if we kept LED running through the pandemic.
• He was going to work with us on the phosphate pollution into the River Axe which has led Natural England to say no more homes in Axminster can be built until that is mitigated. As a farmer, with all the problems of leaking slurry lagoons and fertiliser run offs from fields, he would have been a considerable figure in all this.
• We appealed to him to have a word with government about the huge strain put on a district council when it is suddenly asked to distribute energy rebate payments via the means of the council tax system.
• We asked, yet again, to help with a change to housing policy, especially what happens if we graft to create new social housing only for it to be privately purchased within a few years.
Mr Parish pledged to help us with all the above and I was grateful to him for the meeting, which was professional and civil. I have no doubt that he had no idea what was to befall him just a few hours later.
Thereafter as you may imagine I had an extremely busy weekend receiving calls from all and sundry. In particular, and although I have not the slightest interest in Twitter, I was advised by a number of sources that the Conservatives in this area had delated content on their twitter feeds, about which I could not care less.
However, one correspondent sent me an extraordinary photograph which had somehow survived this cull. It was from October or November 2019 and it was the selection meeting for the Conservative candidate for the December 2019 election published on the East Devon Conservatives own website.
This meeting was held at a school; Exmouth Community College. It was moderated by the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez. Prominent in the photo was herself, the newly decided candidate Simon Jupp and, amongst many others on this council John Humphreys as one of the main placard holders. Surely a condition of his bail was that he must not be allowed to enter a school premises, amongst other restrictions regarding access to places connected with young people.
You will remember the awful account read by Councillor Eileen Wragg on behalf of one his victims. It is nearly ten months since Humphreys’ conviction and five months since the statement was read.
I have two questions in the light of this that I would like to clarify from the Chair of the East Devon Conservative Party, Cllr Bruce De Saram.
Bruce, is it true that this selection meeting took place at Exeter Community College, and if so how was that allowed?
And is it the case as has also been reported to me yet again this weekend that Simon Jupp MP was staying with Humphreys before and during the election and that his East Devon address was Humphreys’ address?’
In response Councillor Bruce De Saram read a statement on behalf of Councillor Colin Brown, Conservative Group Leader EDDC:
‘Neil Parish became MP for Tiverton and Honiton in 2010 with a majority of 9000.
In the following 12 years as our MP he increased that to over 24000 proving what a good Constituency MP he was, working tirelessly for the people in Tiverton and Honiton. We support Neil’s decision to apologise in the circumstances and resign as the Member of Parliament.’
Councillor Maddy Chapman wished to clarify some of the Chair’s comments. She stated that Simon Jupp MP did not stay with John Humphreys, he stayed in a flat that was let out by John Humphreys as it was empty at the time for 2 - 3 weeks while waiting for completion of his house. She stated that during the time she worked with John Humphreys she was not aware of the crimes he had committed nor that he had been under police caution or charged and put on bail. She confirmed that she and her colleagues were unaware of his crimes and that in her previous role of Mayor of Exmouth had she known, she would have spoken out about it. She said she wanted no aspersions to fall on Simon Jupp and that he was a very good MP and worked well for East Devon and supported local residents.
Councillor Eileen Wragg said she found the denials extraordinary as she had certainly known John Humphreys was under investigation at least four years ago and was surprised that opposition councillors were stating that they had no knowledge of this at the time. She believed that there may be evidence in the future coming forward which would prove what she was saying was correct. Councillor Chapman asked why if the opposition had known was she and her colleagues not told. Councillor Wragg responded by saying that she had had no evidence of these crimes so did not say anything to anyone about it.
Councillor Jess Bailey said that a formal response about John Humphreys had never come forward from the Conservative Party and that in the same way as the council was undertaking an independent investigation, why had the Conservative Party not produced a report on what had happened. She said that they must have practices and procedures around candidates when they come forward for elections to make declarations, so were these declarations not made or made but not true.
Cllr Arnott confirmed that he had posed such questions to the Conservative party in a letter copied to numerous people but had not received a proper response.
Councillor Chapman stated that Humphreys said he was standing down for personal reasons and asked why if the opposition had known was she and her colleagues not told. Councillor Chapman said she could not find anyone in the party who knew and Humphreys’ partner was not aware and was devastated.
Councillor Wragg responded by saying that she had understood that you needed to be able to evidence what you say. She confirmed she had no evidence but had heard through word of mouth. She confirmed she did not say anything to anyone about it.