Steve Barclay: Constituents in North East Cambridgeshire react to new chief of staff appointment

• People in Wisbech react to Steve Barclay's appointment as chief of staff

Constituents in Wisbech have been reacting to the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff.

Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that the MP for North East Cambridgeshire, who is already Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, would become his chief of staff and take forward reforms to No 10.

The appointment of Steve Barclay comes amid a swathe of new faces brought into Downing Street by Boris Johnson, following a number of resignations in the continued fallout from the Number 10 parties scandal.

But questions were raised over how the new Number 10 chief of staff will tackle three jobs at once - with opinions on the streets of Wisbech mixed when ITV Anglia quizzed constituents on Monday.

Sam Carter moved to the area a few months ago. He is an avid Labour supporter and thought the current situation was “disgraceful".

He said: “Everything happening right now is disgraceful. I don’t know how Steve can manage to juggle high paying jobs. It seems like he is over stretching himself. He won’t be there to support constituents.”

Evelyn Hare, who is now retired and lives in the area, agreed. She said: "I don’t think he can do his job. We don’t see enough of him now, we need an MP that represents. His new position doesn’t worry me, but things here do need to be sorted." 

Others were very supportive of the MP and thought he would be able to do a good job.

Shannon Goddard, a security advisor said: “Steve is very polite, kind and genuine. He's helped a lot of people. He will be able to juggle the jobs all at once, he’s going to smash it."

Another person said: "I've always had good dealings with Stephen before he had these jobs, I suspect he'll do the best he can."

Meanwhile Brian Harris, 70, said: "I think he's got too much on his plate."