Time to play the French joker again, I fancy (the beauty of which is that you can't really lose - if nothing happens then you've Kept Dover Clear, and if it all snarls up then you've been proved right). Hence Natalie Elphicke's tweet:
"Last weekend’s French ‘no show’ farce is a reminder that we can’t simply rely on the French to act sensibly and proportionately when it comes to managing the European border and its impact on our community."
Whereas the previous MP had a slightly different take on things. When the French beefed-up border checks in the wake of the 2016 Nice terror attacks and 14-hour jams formed on the M20, the Sun reported Charlie Elphicke as saying:
"Deep down we know that if this happened at Heathrow there would be uproar. Ministers would loom large on our TV screens, moving heaven and earth to sort it out. But it’s somehow seen as okay for tens of thousands of holidaymakers and truckers to be stuck in the sweltering heat all day long without water, food, information or toilet facilities. You can’t help but get the impression that travelling from the Channel Ports is looked down upon and far less of a priority than the elite jet-set.”
In a flash the whole Levelling-Up agenda was born. And very youthful he looked too:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1519126/mp-charlie-elphicke-blasts-ministers-reaction-to-travel-chaos-at-dover-port-as-embarrassingly-poor/.