A blue-on-blue row has broken out as Tory MP Simon Clarke slams fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen over his decision to take up the anti-vax mantle in parliament. Despite his Commons suspension this week, he’s continued tweeted about vaccines, this morning taking his attacks a step further and accusing the vaccine rollout of being the “biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust”.
This is disgraceful. https://t.co/Q983MZ8fVf
— Simon Clarke MP (@SimonClarkeMP) January 11, 2023
Former Tory MP Christian Wakeford also joined in, saying to make such a comparison during the month of Holocaust Memorial Day “is despicable” and asks “When is it enough for the Tories to withdraw the whip?”
No.10 tells Tom Harwood that the PM hasn’t seen the tweet in question, and “any disciplinary processes are a matter for the whips”. The Whips office are keeping schtum for the moment…
Aren’t you glad we’re out? At a press conference this afternoon EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen issued a threat that mandatory, EU-wide vaccines may well be coming down the road, telling reporters:
“Potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union, this needs discussion, this needs a common approach, but it is a discussion I think that needs to be led…”
Funny thing for the head of a trade bloc to say…
This morning The Sun splashes with news that “‘Napoleon’ Macron” has nabbed five million AstraZeneca vaccines bound for the UK, diverting the shipment on its way from Holland. The news will no doubt anger most of the UK. Did Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary playing a leading role in the country’s vaccine procurement, let on his anger at the french yesterday afternoon however? At a lunch with Guido, Kwasi made the undiplomatic comment:
“EDF, even though it is a French company – just have a little dig at the French there. That’s customary these days!”
The world’s oldest rivalry shows no sign of relenting…
For those not following news north of the border, Nicola Sturgeon is embroiled in a vaccine row entirely of her own making. On June 22nd Sturgeon told Holyrood:
“The next milestone will be 18 July. Be then, all adults will have had the first dose of vaccine, which is significantly ahead of schedule. By 26 July, we expect to have given second doses to all 40 to 49-year-olds, and by 20 August, all 30 to 39-year-olds will have had a second dose.”
At her Monday press conference it was pointed out to the First Minister that, on this basis, she has now missed her own deadline given not all 40 to 49-year-olds have had their second dose. However it turned out the press had somehow, stupidly, got it into their heads that when Sturgeon said “given” she in fact meant “offered”. Sturgeon sarcastically lambasted the press for having the temerity to take her on-the-record word as it was spoken:
“When I communicate, and I apologise if this is an error, I kind of communicate at a level where I assume a certain level of intelligence on the part of people listening to me”
As the Scottish Daily Mail’s Stephen Daisly points out, this claim must be false given “she has, one presumes, had conversations with Angus MacNeil”…
Sturgeon’s decision to patronise the press, fellow parliamentarians and the public – for assuming the words she says in the Scottish Parliament should be taken at face value – rather than backing down and apologising for missing a target has now led to the Tories’ chief whip Stephen Kerr writing to Holyrood’s presiding officer. He asks whether Sturgeon can return to the assembly and explain her discrepancy. It seems even for Covid-cautious Sturgeon, the mask does occasionally slip…
At yesterday’s White House press briefing the president told reporters he is considering compulsory vaccinations for all federal employees, which – according to the Office of Personnel Management – would total a whopping 2.1 million US workers. Biden finished off his remark with a barb to those yet unvaccinated, saying “you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were”. Guido can only imagine the outrage among some Tory MPs if Boris ever thought about going down this route – the care workers’ row was bad enough…
