Conservative MP for Plymouth Johnny Mercer has said that no-one from his own party reached out to him in the wake of a mass shooting in his area which cost the lives of five bystanders.
Mr Mercer described the shootings as "very difficult, just an awful situation", and said that he was working to put support structures in place.
Earlier this month, the town was rocked when gunman Jake Davison shot his 51-year-old mother Maxine Davison in Keyha, Plymouth, before he went into the street and shot dead Sophie Martyn, aged three, and her father Lee Martyn, aged 43, in an attack witnessed by horrified onlookers.
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He killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park before shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place. She later died at Derriford Hospital.
Davison also shot a man aged 33 and a 53-year-old woman who suffered significant injuries before turning the gunon himself.
Floral tributes left in Keyham in Plymouth
In an interview with the Evening Standard newspaper, MP Mercer said that none of his colleagues had contacted him in the wake of the shootings, though Ian Blackford, SNP leader in Westminster, had reached out fromn the opposition benches.
Mr Mercer said: “I thought that was very nice, but not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up.”
Speaking to the newspaper from the Island of Skye, where he is on holiday with his family, the former veterans minister was scathing about on Boris Johnson's handling of the crisis in Afghanistan.
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Mr Mercer, a former commando who served in the country, said the withdrawal of troops was "a total betrayal”.
He said: “It’s worse than that because out of all the emotions you felt over the last 20 years of this campaign, defeat and surrender wasn’t really one of them.
"So it’s kind of new territory. And it’s really really difficult to process. To be honest, I’ve been surprised by how much it’s affected me, and a lot of my cohort – some pretty resilient people. I wasn’t expecting to feel like this.”
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Mr Mercer added: “It all feels so pointless now. The way ministers have carried on over the last week, without any real direction or leadership or responsibility, it just makes it ten times worse.
"That’s why I shall speak out on it. Constantly blaming the Americans devalues our service even further”.
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