A Labour MP was told off by police after he went to visit his father to celebrate his 78th birthday — and then posted about it online.
Stephen Kinnock, 50, the member for Aberavon in Wales, and his wife, former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, took chairs over to his father’s house.
The son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock said they’d visited him for a “socially distanced celebration”.
Stephen posted a photo of himself on Twitter, sitting a few metres away from his dad, with the caption: “Dad turned 78 today. Incredible, but true.
“@HelleThorning_S and I took a couple of chairs over, and sat in their front garden for a socially distanced celebration.
“As you do. Happy birthday, mate.”
But South Wales Police weren’t impressed by his apparent breach of lockdown rules.
A spokesperson told him off in a message which said: “We know celebrating your Dad’s birthday is a lovely thing to do, however this is not essential travel.
“We all have our part to play in this, we urge you to comply with @GOVUK
restrictions, they are in place to keep us all safe. Thank you.”
But the MP hit back – and claimed he was delivering essential supplies, and was only there long enough to “sing happy birthday”.
His move comes despite a pinned tweet on his page, telling followers they should only leave their homes for food, medicine, exercise, medical needs, to provide care or essential travel to work
Critics hit back at him on Twitter.
Kenny Toal said: “My dad was 75 this week.
“Would have loved to have seen him too. Instead we celebrated using zoom.
“Because it wasn’t an essential journey. Not sure how this is different. But i’m sure you’d be able to clarify.”
James Upson wrote: “This doesn’t look like it complies with your pinned tweet.
“The reason for the rules are in place is surely because some people can’t make sensible decisions, you should be setting an example or at the very least not advertising non compliance on social media!”
Pete Deveson said: “Happy birthday to your dad and all but what part of stay at home don’t you understand?”
