Disheartened Shropshire Tory supporters put off voting by 'silly boy' Boris Johnson

A tipping point has been reached for some Conservative voters in Shropshire over the future of Boris Johnson.

The Shropshire Star headed to Meole Brace in Shrewsbury to gauge the views of residents after a number of ministers - most notably Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid - resigned between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

As it happened the majority of people who had the time, interest and inclination to chat were people who had cast their crosses in 2019 for the Tories. But most of them now want Mr Johnson to give up the top job and hand the reins of power to someone else.

Gareth Sanderson, aged 42, of Copthorne, considers himself a Conservative voter and a supporter of Britain's exit from the European Union. He's been so disenchanted by the PM that he is considering not voting in future.

"I was enthused by his motivation to deliver Brexit," said Mr Sanderson. "However I now believe he is being embroiled in too many controversies and his position is now untenable."

And in a sign of how much he has been put off politics, Mr Sanderson added: "I am so disheartened with the lot of them I may well abstain from voting at all."

Dawn Cater, aged 65, of Shrewsbury, when asked what she thinks of Mr Johnson, said: "Not a lot, it's time he gave up and let someone else in. He is not helping the country."

Mrs Cater said she believed Mr Johnson's government is "sending money abroad" when the NHS is in need of funding. She also thinks the partygate scandal showed that Mr Johnson was "telling people to do one thing while they are doing another".

Mrs Cater has not voted "for a while" and taking part in the democratic process is not on her agenda in future.

True blue Conservative voter Pamela Wootton-Davies, aged 85, from Bayston Hill, thinks Mr Johnson has been a "silly boy" and thinks he should step out of number 10.

She said: "He is a typical privileged public schoolboy, someone who thinks he is owed the privilege of being Prime Minister, with a sense of entitlement. He's been married a few times and put himself about."

Mrs Wootton-Davies added that she had been married to a public schoolboy who "was not like that."

Mrs Wootton-Davies is however staying loyal to the Tories.

"I normally vote Conservative and still will. Labour leader Starmer is a bit wet and woolly."

She believes former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid would make the best candidates for the post of Conservative leader and PM. "They're good candidates, sensible," she said.

Fellow Conservative Sylvia Morland, aged 63, said she had been "very supportive" of the PM who she said "handled the pandemic well." But now, "for the good of the party, he needs to go."

But from what she is hearing, she thinks Mr Johnson will try to stay on in Downing Street.

Mrs Morland thinks Home Secretary Priti Patel would make a great replacement for Mr Johnson.

"I like her, I think she's got more balls than the lot of them," she said. "It needs someone to shake up the civil service."

Ex-forces member Pauline Chew, aged 58, considers herself a Conservative voter and cast her cross for the party in the 2019 General Election. And she was "impressed" with the way Boris Johnson dealt with the Covid pandemic. "I don't think he did a bad job," she added.

Now however she thinks Mr Johnson is "a bit of an oaf, and a bit of a joke" and would not vote for him again.

She added: "I do not know who I would vote for. None of them can lie straight in bed. I am more likely now not to vote at all."

James Handley, aged 72, from Monkmoor, in Shrewsbury, considers himself a Conservative voter but does not support his local MP and voted Lib Dem in 2019. He is also not a fan of Boris Johnson.

"He should have resigned months ago," he said, adding that he would be looking for someone with "general good management" skills to take the reins of power.

Mr Handley added that: "Mr Johnson is an intelligent chap who is doing the wrong job. He is very clever but he is a theorist, he likes to write, and is very academic but he can't manage.

"He thinks being popular is all that matters but it is not."