To editor of West Country Voices 

Dear Editor,

‘Disgusted’ doesn’t come close. Although even now I am still sometimes surprised by how badly these Tories behave, I am genuinely shocked at what Simon Jupp is up to.

Jupp, the Conservative elected as East Devon’s MP in 2019, is attempting to deceive voters by purloining – for his own purposes – the name of his strongest rival, the Lib Dem Richard Foord, in the run-up to the general election.

Some readers may recall that in the recent past, the Tories have produced election flyers with green print – not their usual trademark blue – and have been a little ‘shy’ to own up that they are campaigning for the Conservatives.

Now Simon Jupp is going one better – or rather, much lower.

Richard Foord is currently MP for the Tiverton and Honiton constituency; in 2022’s by-election he overturned the 24,000-odd majority of the previous incumbent, Neil Parish, the Conservative MP who resigned after being caught watching porn on his phone in the House of Commons. (No sniggering at the back!)

Jupp and Foord will almost certainly be going head-to-head for the new seat which will result from boundary changes and will be known as Honiton and Sidmouth; because of the boundary changes it’s expected to be a tight race and Jupp presumably feels that anything goes.

So if you google ‘richardfoord.co.uk’, ‘richardfoord.uk’ or ‘richardfoord.com’, you are directed not to a webpage from Richard Foord, but to Jupp’s own website. Readers might not credit the sheer brazenness of it and I’d suggest they try it – but I don’t want Jupp’s page to get the hits.

inews reported Jupp’s piece of trickery on 5 April 2024 and also detailed other instances where the Tories – who couldn’t lie straight in bed – have played dirty. In the leaflet for her campaign to be re-elected in May, Devon’s current Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez somehow fails to mention that she is a Conservative. I can understand why she might not wish to be too closely identified with the national party Tories at present, but surely this omission is just deceitful?

Unfortunately, the stratagems employed by Jupp and his ilk are not illegal. Sly, yes. Dishonourable, yes. Insolent, undoubtedly. But not outwith the law.

I feel particularly strongly about this because I live in the constituency and Richard Foord is my MP. For the first time in my adult life, I am lucky enough to have an MP who I feel broadly represents my values and who will try to mitigate some of the damage caused by Conservative policies. Moreover, in another refreshing change, I see my MP constantly working for his constituents: Foord is always visible, always busy. I want him to remain as my MP after the election. I don’t want a Tory MP again and I especially don’t want Jupp.

I want an MP with integrity. Is that too much to ask?

Constituent,

Axminster

Is the British staycation boom over? Short-term holiday rentals experienced a surge in recent years, especially during the pandemic, when Britons stayed at home in the UK, leading to a spike in rates.

Suzanne Bearne www.theguardian.com 

However, holiday-let owners across the UK are reporting a significant fall in bookings so far this year as the sector feels the effects of the cost of living crisis, poor weather and an increasingly saturated market.

Helen Angove, 58, managing director of Woodland Collection Holidays in Townshend, Cornwall, about 10 miles from tourist hotspot St Ives, said demand in January and February fell by about 80% across her four three-bedroom holiday lets on the same period last year. “This year we had hardly any bookings at all in January or February. March and April bookings are down 20%.”

She attributes much of the sluggish demand to the poor weather. “So many [people] are fed up with the wet weather. They are going abroad to get some sunshine. The second big factor is the massive oversupply of holiday lets. A lot of people thought they could make easy money because of what happened during Covid.”

Data supplied from AirDNA, which tracks listings on holiday rental sites Airbnb and Vrbo, found 342,000 short-term lets available in the UK in the 12 months to February 2024, up 19% on the previous year. New listings for homes in the UK jumped 22% year on year in 2023, while new apartment listings increased by 16%.

Yvonne Turnbull, 58, who lives in Horsham, West Sussex, has been letting out a three-bedroom apartment in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for between £150 and £175 a night, including through Airbnb, for the past six years.

She said demand was significantly down on previous years, with no bookings for January, February or March, including half-term, and fewer bookings over Easter. Turnbull said Scarborough was now oversupplied with holiday lets. “When we started there were about 200 Airbnbs in the town. Now you’re looking at 1,000.”

Nor is the problem limited to seaside destinations. Veeve, which offers short-term rentals, has seen a 21% drop in booking values across its London portfolio of more than 500 properties from January to 19 March since the same period last year.

The lack of bookings is another hit to the holiday-let industry after the government announced increased regulation and the end of tax relief from April 2025 in last month’s budget. New controls on holiday lets in England will be introduced this summer, including a mandatory national registration scheme and councils being given greater powers if they want to use them to control short-term lets by making them subject to the planning process.

Martin Dunford, founder of accommodation site Cool Places, said inquiries for UK self-catering accommodation were slightly down on last year but higher than before the pandemic. “We are finding that people are more careful. They have less money, tend to book later, watch the weather and try to get more for their money.”

Miriam Vanags, 60, and her husband have run a one-bedroom holiday cottage on their 18-acre smallholding in St Clears, Wales, for the past 17 years. She said people were demanding a lot more for their money. “They expect more of a hotel experience. Now we see a huge number of requests for hot tubs and wood burners, which seem to be deal breakers. Trends change.”

She added: “We have considered long-term letting and that is something we may revisit. Selling up may become a necessity, depending on whether things pick up.”

Mr Jupp told the BBC he was “not responsible for the web domains”.

Not exactly a condemnation and did we ever think Simon Jupp was tech savvy enough to set the links up all by himself? 

It looks like the links have now mysteriously disappeared though they were active yesterday – Owl

By Miles Davis www.bbc.co.uk

Questions are being asked of a Conservative MP over people being redirected to his website.

Simon Jupp, East Devon Conservative MP, will stand in the new constituency of Honiton and Sidmouth.

Two MPs in Devon, Conservative Simon Jupp and Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat, will go head to head in the general election in a new constituency.

It emerged anyone typing in RichardFoord.uk, RichardFoord.co.uk or RichardFoord.com would be redirected to Mr Jupp’s site.

Mr Jupp told the BBC he was “not responsible for the web domains”.

Richard Foord is currently MP for Tiverton and Honiton

Mr Foord, MP for Honiton and Tiverton, said: “When we talk to people across Mid and East Devon, they tell us they want their representatives to play it straight and be honest.

“Links that look genuine but simply redirect to Conservative websites only serve to arouse suspicion and undermine trust.

“People deserve better from their MP, and at the election they have a chance to demand better by voting Liberal Democrat.”

Mr Jupp is currently the MP for East Devon but will be the Conservative candidate standing against Mr Foord in a new constituency of Honiton and Sidmouth introduced due to boundary changes.

He told the BBC he was “not responsible for the web domains in Mr Foord’s name” which link to his own website.

The Electoral Commission said it would not be looking into what had happened.

A spokesperson said: “There is nothing in electoral law concerning the use of website domain names by candidates.

“The content of campaign material does not fall within our regulatory remit so it wouldn’t be for us to investigate.”

Social Media

James O’Brien

He’ll be 2019 intake. You don’t even need to check. The people who watched the lying & cheating of Brexit & Boris Johnson & decided that was the life for them. God only knows what sort of flotsam will get on to the candidates list this time round.

Marina Purkiss

Dear @simonjamesjupp, How is it that the URLs for Lib Dem candidate http://richardfoord.uk, http://richardfoord.co.uk and http://richardfoord.com all link directly to your website? Not a good look Are you, your staff or anyone you know responsible for this? Helpful to know

So that’s another half million “views” to imprint the current Tory desperation! – Owl