MP’s fate provokes a clamour of whispers and shrugged shoulders

At first glance, the only evidence of the controversy over the future of the town’s MP was the newspaper bills screaming out the latest chapter of this increasingly unedifying saga.

But start asking questions in Malton about the controversy surrounding Anne McIntosh and it is not long before brows become furrowed, voices are lowered and theories aired as to why an MP who enjoys a majority of more than 11,000 and who, as chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, is in prime position to air the concerns of this rural constituency has somehow found herself facing the possibility of deselection as the Conservative candidate for 2015.

And it quickly becomes clear that Ms McIntosh’s fate has become entwined with a series of contentious issues and perceptions over which side of the argument she supports.

Conversations about Ms McIntosh frequently turn to the future of Malton livestock market and linked plans to turn the site into a food store and car park as well as the controversy over proposals for a supermarket on a car park in the town.

They are issues that arouse strong feelings and over which a Westminster MP such as Ms McIntosh has no power but on which both sides feel she has influence which she should be bringing to bear.

The Yorkshire Post revealed this week that a Conservative Party inquiry had found the local association was riven by factions and the composition of the executive board was changed ahead of a meeting to decide the MP’s future.

Against that backdrop, in small town where word travels quickly, few are willing to air their views with anyone but their closest friends and colleagues..

“Anne McIntosh has worked very hard for the rural community and farmers in particular,” said one prominent local who asks not to be named.

“She’s done an excellent job with the Environment Agency on flooding issues in and around Malton.

“She is always very open to having an instant surgery with people she meets and I don’t think there is anyone really with a problem with her apart from the hierarchy of the Conservative Association.”

“I wonder if she’s quite a strong willed woman who calls a spade a spade, knows what she believes in and that doesn’t make her popular,” mused one woman shopper.

“I wonder if she’s not prepared to be accommodating and would rather stand up for what she believes in.”

To many political observers, it is bewildering that an area that has consistently returned a Conservative MP for decades should become so embroiled in a row over whether Ms McIntosh may cost the party votes in 2015.

But memories are long in Malton and the 1986 Ryedale by-election which saw Elizabeth Shields win for the SDP Liberal Alliance remains a significant influences local thinking.

Shields turned a Conservative majority of more than 16,000 into an SDP-Alliance majority of 5,000.

And there are still some aggrieved at the decision to choose Ms McIntosh, then the Vale of York MP, as the candidate for Thirsk and Malton in 2010 rather than John Greenway, whose Ryedale seat was also abolished.

But for everyone with a theory over Ms McIntosh’s precarious position there is another for whom the whole affair has barely made an impression.

And for every person following the nuances of the political drama being played, there were plenty yesterday who struggled to even name their MP and a sense of confusion at the strength of feeling being conveyed on both sides of the argument in the letters pages of local newspapers.

In talking to people in Malton about Ms McIntosh one question occurs time and again – “Has she done enough for the area?”

In each case, the questioner is themselves not sure of the answer. Though in a constituency that covers a huge swathe of North Yorkshire from Filey on the east coast to Thirsk it would be difficult for any MP to be a visible presence in every town and village.

The tug of war over Ms McIntosh’s future is due to come to a head on Friday when the ballot closes.

The Malton branch of bookmaker William Hill is not expecting a rush of bets on the outcome but punters who fancy a flutter on politics rather than sport can get odds of 1/4 on Ms McIntosh securing the seat at the next General Election and rather longer odds of 11/4 on her not being the candidate or standing and losing.

Given they are the only ones with money resting on the outcome, maybe Ms McIntosh can rest easy.