Martin Parr: 'My colleagues will go to war zones — I’m photographing the leisure time of the Western world'

In the introduction to Martin Parr’s seemingly millionth photography book, United Kingdom, in collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Parr’s home country — perfidious Albion — is described as a place that the celebrated documentary photographer ‘loves to hate’. Hate? Certainly, Parr’s photographs capture a Britain that would make any of us wince and cringe and say: oh God, this is us, isn’t it? A fleet of St George’s flag wheelbarrows piled up by an amazingly dismal pumpkin patch; Mr Blobby rendered in pink meringue; a hairy, pimply neck bearing the tattoo: ‘English and Proud’.

But hate? Hate seems a strong word for this amiable baby boomer. ‘It’s a love-hate relationship,’ he clarifies. ‘There are many things in this country that I love. There are many things, like Brexit, that really annoy me. But I’m able to illustrate this contradiction by taking pictures. One