Tim McNally, chairman of Piddington Parish Council, has become a star of global media over the past week after his tiny village voted in a referendum to leave the UK in protest at plans to move 1,250 asylum seekers into a disused Ministry of Defence site on its outskirts.
CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Australian have been among those eager to talk to the man the New Statesman described as “Piddington’s energetic parish council chair”. But how much is McNally really like Passport to Pimlico’s Arthur Pemberton – the civic-minded shopkeeper he is inevitably likened to?
McNally last week posted a bonkers video to social media ranting about the Davos World Economic Forum for reasons which were not entirely clear, before suggesting that the plans for Piddington could lead to the mass murder of children.
“What happens if they have an uproar and decide to invade the village?” he asked. “How do you manage that, Andy Burnham? Would you show your concern then? How are you going to recompense, compensate, the children’s lives that you’ve snuffed out? The children’s livelihoods that you’ve snuffed out?”
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He then concluded: “This is from the village that roars. I’m one of many. I’m Spartacus. You’re Spartacus. We are Spartacus.”
McNally later claimed that help for Piddington from President Trump was “on its way”, telling the Sun’s little-watched Harry Cole Saves The West YouTube show that “we’ve got some what are called back-channel connections going on at the moment and all I know is that they’re now in receipt of my number, that’s been gifted through very close connections.
“Firstly, we did this as a basis of solidarity for the [sic] American independence, respecting their similar situation 250 years ago, and for us we’re seeing the same sort of… we’re being shut down in our democracy, and I think it’s really a message back to the world.
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“He’s a leader in terms of the aspect of shoring up and controlling borders and every man and his woman should be able to do the same.” Leaving the phrase “every man and his woman” aside, it must have come as news to Piddington voters concerned about an asylum centre that it was actually all about showing solidarity with the US Declaration of Independence!
McNally has since gone on to contact Elon Musk via X, claiming that the UK “is becoming a communist dictatorship” and urging him to “buy Great Britain”. “I could fix this country with one action but most people will not like it,” McNally added without expanding on his final solution.
Finally, appearing on GB News, McNally claimed his stunt referendum was “an example of democracy in operation”. It was certainly more democratic than how McNally became the de facto spokesperson for every person in Piddington.
The village has not had a contested parish council election since at least 2016, because not enough villagers volunteered to stand. McNally was elected uncontested.
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