Melanie Greenwood had been helping to organise a books for children drive when she heard the news of the home secretary, James Cleverly, allegedly calling Stockton a shit-hole. She said: “I was speechless. Angry. You work so hard and you think: is this what they really think of us?” She added: “The annoying thing is that it was so off the cuff. I think that is what they think about underprivileged people. It speaks a lot about what they truly believe.”
Greenwood co-owns the independent Drake the Bookshop in the town centre. A display had been hastily rearranged, away from the eyes of children, that summed up the vibe on Thursday morning. In the middle was a new activity book titled Fuck the Tories.
Cleverly was said to have made the comment in the Commons after the Stockton North MP, Alex Cunningham, asked Rishi Sunak on Wednesday why 34% of children in the constituency were in poverty. “Because it’s a shit-hole,” Cunningham alleges the home secretary said.
Cleverly has said he would never say that. A source close to him told reporters that he called Cunningham “shit”, for which he apologised. But Cunningham says Cleverly could clearly be heard saying “shit-hole” and that people on the Labour frontbench saw him saying it.
The row is unlikely to go away. The Tory mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, called it “childish and unprofessional language” and called on Cleverly to apologise “for dragging Stockton’s name through the mud”.
When the Guardian visited, many people were genuinely angry at Cleverly. “His comments are so naive and childish,” said Martin Shipley-Burr, a shop owner. “But they are also wrong. Stockton isn’t that, it’s a wonderful place. People here are lovely. They are funny. They are caring … the most caring people you would ever meet.”
Shipley-Burr owns the geeky shop Who-Ray and was marking “Doctor Who Day” by wearing a fetching Tom Baker-esque oxblood corduroy jacket. “Yes we’ve got antisocial behaviour, but everywhere has,” he said. “Have you been to Harrogate? It’s got shut shops, people begging for money, and that is Harrogate.”
Carol Whitfield said she was a fan of Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman – “I watch GB News … I don’t watch any other news” – but she was annoyed at Cleverly.
“Has he actually been here? I’ve seen a lot of town centres on coach trips and there’s some beautiful towns and, I’m not going to name names, there’s places a lot worse,” she said. “I’m not sure what he means when he says it. There are some deprived areas but overall Stockton is not what he says it is.”
Whitfield was behind the counter in LuLu’s gift shop. Her daughter Jane Hughes chipped in: “He is going to have to apologise isn’t he? You can’t say that, we’ve got a lot of history in Stockton.”
Daisy, 18, working in the upstairs tea room, said: “He’ll get sacked for that surely? He should. I personally think it’s all right for us to say it, because we’re from here. But he’s meant to be in charge and for him to say that is ridiculous.”
Out on the street on a blustery November morning, Jacqueline Urwin, 80, was in no doubt. “I’m Stockton born and bred,” she said. “I think what he said is disgusting. Stockton is not a … it’s not what he said. I mean I do remember when Stockton was a nicer place and we had the market all the way down the high street but even so … I’m sure there are a lot worse places than Stockton.”
No one denies that Stockton, on Teesside, has its problems, with nine of the 26 council wards in the 10% most deprived in the country. The Stockton town centre ward, part of Cunningham’s patch, has the unenviable statistic of having the lowest life expectancy for women of anywhere in England.
But that did not make it a shit-hole, the Guardian was told over and again, with a few exceptions, on Thursday.
Paul Rowling, a Labour councillor who represents Stockton town centre, said the comment was “despicable”. “It shows what he and his party really think about our area. In the week a Labour council has been granted levelling up funding for part of our borough, the Conservatives again show their true colours,” he said.
The reaction on social media has been furious. The Wobbly Goblin nightclub has, via the Stockton South Tory MP, Matt Vickers, posted an invite for Cleverly to come and experience the “lively beats and vibrant scenes” that make Stockton anything but dull.
Claire Dalkin, a florist, would love to see him take it up. “Has he even been to Stockton? Has he ever spoken to anyone from Stockton? Has he had a night out in the Wobbly Goblin?” she said.
“I’ll be honest, I had to click on his [Cleverly’s] name to find out who he was. It does make me angry. I was in London a few months back and I wouldn’t say London was pretty. Every town or city has its good points and its bad points but to call somewhere that, when you have probably never even visited … I’m from Stockton and I wouldn’t open a business in Stockton if I thought it was a shit-hole.”
