A former soldier bidding to eliminate Boris Johnson from the political battlefield has said losing a crunch by-election could topple the Prime Minister.
Ex-Army Major Richard Foord, 44, has planted his tanks firmly on the Tory lawn for the fight triggered by tractor porn MP Neil Parish’s resignation.
Lib Dem Mr Foord, who served in Iraq and the Balkans with the Adjutant General’s Corps, is contesting the Tiverton and Honiton ballot - one of two polls on JUne 23 which Tory insiders fear could plunge the PM’s Partygate-impaled premiership into deeper peril, if he survives that long.
The dad-of-three is attempting to overturn the Conservatives’ 24,239 majority in the safe “Blue Wall” Devon seat.
Combined with an expected Labour victory in Wakefield, West Yorks, triumph would pile pressure on Tory rebels to demand a confidence vote in Mr Johnson - potentially forcing him from No10.
Dozens of MPs have written to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady calling for a confidence ballot.
Once 54 letters are received, a contest must be triggered. The threshold could be crossed next week.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Mr Foord said: “Johnson’s Government is now on the edge, a no-confidence vote appears to be in the offing.
“A lot of Conservative opinion will crystallise in opposition to Johnson if we can achieve a win here in Tiverton and Honiton.”
He added: “If the 54 letters aren’t in by June 23, then we feel pretty certain they will be on June 24 if we can pull off victory here.
“There’s definitely an awareness that he’s in a very precarious position.
“It’s quite a rare opportunity we have - there are 650 constituencies and only two have by-elections on June 23.
“We are privileged to be speaking for the country and we can really have a massive effect.”
The ballot was triggered by Mr Parish quitting after admitting twice watching porn in the Commons.
The first time he claimed he was looking for tractors online when he stumbled across smut.
Mr Foord said voters actually appreciate the speed with which Mr Parish accepted his career was over.
“There’s a kind of grudging respect for the fact Parish resigned quickly - that contrasts with the PM who is clinging on by his fingertips and refusing to do the decent thing and resign,” said Mr Foord.
“The strong feeling that the PM is a liar is something that’s absolutely affecting voting intention here.
“There’s a lot of disappointment - some people who were supportive of the Government and Johnson himself in 2019 feel very let down by the PM personally.”
Comparing today’s politics to the mid-1990s when John Major ’s ailing administration was hampered by sleaze, Sandhurst-educated Mr Foord added: “More than sleaze, it’s about integrity and honesty.
“I hear on the doorsteps much less about individual MPs who have been subject to sleaze allegations or who have had to resign.
“I hear much more about the PM and the lack of integrity that he has shown by lying to Parliament and seeking to cover up his wrongdoing.”
Mr Foord’s mother died from cancer during the coronavirus pandemic.
Rules meant the family could not help his father care for her at home in her last days - while parties were taking place in Downing Street.
“This was six weeks prior to the ‘Abba’ party in October 2020,” said Mr Foord.
“The revelation that it was very much one rule for us and one rule for them really comes through quite strongly.”
He wants to win the seat “out of a public service ethic”.
“I served in the Army for more than 10 years and I would really now like to serve people here in Devon,” he said.
“There are an awful lot of parallels between serving in the Armed Forces and serving as an MP - the way you can look after and support others with their issues and challenges is common to both professions.”
Some candidates are shocked by the rough and tumble of politics, particularly in high-profile by-elections.
But for Mr Foord, the campaign will be nothing compared to serving in Iraq’s second city, Basra, during the 2007-8 insurgency.
“It was pretty gnarly, we were being bombarded a lot,” he admitted.
“People will think about that time through the lens of seeing the coffins landing at Wootton Bassett.
“Being at the other end and seeing those coffins go out was a sobering experience.”
It was during Operation Telic he saw the importance of leadership - a virtue he believes the PM lacks.
“For me, leadership is about showing courage, and that might be telling people what they don’t want to hear - telling your friends and colleagues who are having a party when the rest of the country is in lockdown that their behaviour is out of line and they shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.
“I think Johnson is a rather craven individual who likes to be surrounded by people who admire and like him.
“I have learned through my own experience watching good leaders - they aim for respect, they don’t necessarily aim to be liked.”
The Lib Dems used to call the South West their heartlands. But they have not had an MP south or west of Bath since their 2015 election disaster.
Mr Foord hopes winning his seat will spark a regional revival.
Locals feel the Government’s “levelling-up” agenda has focused on the Tories’ new Red Wall constituencies of the North and Midlands - leaving behind loyal voters who repeatedly sent blue MPs to Westminster, he said.
“Devon has been taken for granted by the Conservatives,” he said.
“While the Johnson Government looks to win support in other regions of England, there’s a tendency for the Johnson Government to take for granted that areas like Tiverton and Honiton will keep returning a Conservative MP.
“People are ready to vote differently, it’s time for a change and they’re not going to put up with being taken for granted anymore.”
He insisted: “We’ve got a mountain to climb to defeat the Conservatives but what I’m hearing is that momentum is building in support of Liberal Democrats.
“With sheer hard work, commitment and dedication to the cause it is doable, but it’s going to require a whole lot more work yet.”
Enough anger at Boris Johnson to overturn a huge Tory majority
By Ben Glaze
Even if Boris Johnson survives as Prime Minister until June 23, the day’s by-election double whammy could drive another nail into the Premier’s political coffin.
Losing the West Yorkshire seat of Wakefield - a brick in Labour’s Red Wall which the Tories demolished in December 2019 - would be bad enough.
But the Lib Dems triumphing in this South West citadel of Tiverton and Honiton would be a disaster for Johnson.
The constituency has been Conservative since its creation a quarter of a century ago.
The party is defending a 24,239 majority in what the Lib Dems have dubbed the Tories’ “Blue Wall” heartlands.
Seizing the seat would be a monumental triumph for Sir Ed Davey’s party and - assuming Johnson is still Tory leader by then - unleash a fresh wave of letter-writing by anxious Conservative MPs fearing for their futures and demanding a confidence vote in the PM.
They will understandably think that if Johnson can lose Tiverton and Honiton - albeit in a high-profile by-election where Lib Dem campaigners excel at importing activists from hundreds of miles away, focus on ultra-local issues and often say anything to win - he can lose anywhere.
And yet. The majority the Tories wield here is huge - bigger even than the 22,949 advantage the Lib Dems overcame in North Shropshire last December in a ballot triggered by Owen Paterson’s resignation.
It is a tall order. But there is sufficient anger at Johnson, worry about the cost-of-living crisis and resources pumped in by the Lib Dems to seriously imperil the Conservatives in this West Country stronghold.
The PM read classics at Oxford - he will know more than anyone that his destiny could be decided in this Devonian slice of Middle England.
