What does Totnes think of Sarah Wollaston, its defecting MP?

‘Totnes? It’s hippie central.’ A friend warned me what to expect when I visited the affluent, left-leaning town in south-east Devon to assess public opinion about the local MP, Dr Sarah Wollaston. In March she left the Tories to join Change UK and she now sits as a Liberal Democrat. I equipped myself with a photo of her and wandered the streets last Monday. A chap in the Wild Fig Deli told me that her disloyalty would terminate her career. ‘You can change party, all right, but you hold a by-election. She’s lost her credibility.’ In 2011 Wollaston backed a private members’ bill requiring MPs who change parties to stand for re-election. She has yet to meet this obligation herself.

A woman soaking up the sun outside a jewellery shop recognised my Wollaston photo. ‘But I’m Labour,’ she said, ‘I voted Remain.’ ‘Do you think we’ll leave by 31 October?’ ‘Yes,’ she said firmly, ‘I wanted to stay but we’ll be out.’