James Cleverly’s comment in Parliament shows the callous disregard Government has for so-called ‘levelling up’ - Jayne Dowle

The MP for Braintree in Essex, until recently Foreign Secretary, has strenuously denied the allegation, apparently caught on a Commons audio recording, and instead insists that he was aiming this most unparliamentary insult at Mr Cunningham himself.

Twenty four hours after PMQs, the Home Secretary was prepared to admit that he was referring to the member for Stockton North as a “s***” MP, and apologised for using unparliamentary language.

Pass the smelling salts. If this is what happens in Westminster, is it any wonder there is so much disrespect and intolerance tearing our communities apart?

We know only too well that standards have slipped; it’s hard to imagine erudite Home Secretaries of the past – I’m thinking Sir Winston Churchill or Theresa May – uttering such a word in public life.

However, quite aside from the fact that such a senior politician felt it appropriate to even use such a vulgar profanity in the middle of PMQs, what he said and how he said it shows callous disregard for so-called ‘levelling up’.

If it was aimed at Mr Cunningham - who has been in Parliament since 2010, serving as Shadow Minister for Courts and Sentencing since 2020 - it also betrays a serious lack of respect for a fellow Parliamentarian who, as far as I can tell, seems pretty blameless.

Privately educated in south London, Mr Cleverly served in the Army, but left following a leg injury to graduate with a degree in hospitality management studies from Ealing College of Higher Education (now the University of West London), in 1991, before working in publishing.

As Foreign Secretary, he shook hands with overseas leaders in Beijing, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, in the name of diplomacy, and now he’s gone and put his foot in his mouth at home, causing embarrassment to his already beleaguered party in the process. Perhaps he should look again at Tory promises to level up the seriously deprived parts of the country with London and the southeast.

In one fell stroke he’s done almost as much damage as the row over HS2.

The people of Stockton, rightly up in arms about the slur – whether it was intended for them or their MP – have said they would like to welcome him and show him around. Would he dare to show his face? He should.

Labour’s two candidates in Stockton at the next general election, Chris McDonald and Joe Dancey, said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should investigate whether the ministerial code was broken. They also called on Mr Cleverly to “come to Stockton to apologise in person”.

If he does make it up the A19, he might discover that although Mr Cunningham’s question - “Why are 34 per cent of children in my constituency living in poverty?” – was highly pertinent, there are also many indications that the town is ambitious for a prosperous future.

Eventually, after two failed applications, the area of Billingham – famous for its chemical industry – is to receive £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, which will go towards improving infrastructure and regenerating the town centre.

The point is, the town of Stockton could be any one of hundreds across the North of England. Whatever Mr Cleverly does or does not think about it, he should be keenly aware that towns like Stockton, and the dedicated national and local politicians who serve them, are doing their best. The last thing they need is a kicking from central government.

No doubt this regrettable incident will be smoothed over, and in senior Conservative circles at least, be made to disappear. It will rankle however, with other MPs, on all sides of the House, who represent seats with constituents who are struggling to keep their heads above water, pay their bills and feed and clothe their children. So make that the vast majority of them then.

At the last General Election, in 2019, in the face of a crumbling Red Wall and Boris ‘man of the people’ Johnson’s Tory resurgence, Mr Cunningham clung onto his seat with a slim majority of just 1,027. Come the next one, the Home Secretary might just have done the Labour Party a huge favour.