A social media post by Conservative MP Esther McVey has been branded as “repugnant” by the Board of Deputies of British Jews for likening the Labour Government’s proposed smoking ban to the Holocaust.
The MP for Tatton took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem First They Came.
The poem includes the lines: “Then they came for the Jews. And I did not speak out.”
However, the former cabinet minister for common sense ended her version with a twist: “Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.”
In response, the Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned the Tory MP for her choice of words, and dubbed her social media stunt as “repugnant” and “breathtakingly thoughtless”.
The Board said in a statement: “The use of Martin Niemoller’s poem about the horrors of the Nazis to describe a potential smoking ban is an ill-considered and repugnant action.
“We would strongly encourage the MP for Tatton to delete her tweet and apologise for this breathtakingly thoughtless comparison.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded to Ms McVey with: “No, I do not think the postwar confessional of Martin Niemoller about the silent complicity of the German intelligentsia and clergy in the Nazi rise to power is pertinent to a Smoking Bill that was in your manifesto and ours to tackle one of the biggest killers.”
He added: “Get a grip.”
Rabbi David Mason, executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, said: “Tasteless. Utterly tasteless. How can you not see that?”
Israeli writer Hen Mazzig also responded to Ms McVey’s post, writing: “A member of the British parliament equates a ban on smoking to a genocide of Jews. If this were just a random tweet, I would make fun of it and move on. But this person is a national policymaker, and can’t tell the difference between a public health policy and the largest, most industrialized genocide in history.”
He added: “Smoking can kill you. Being Jewish shouldn’t have to.”
Despite significant online criticism, Ms McVey returned to the social media platform to discuss her analogy.
She said: “Nobody is suggesting that banning smoking outside pubs can be equated with what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. It is ridiculous for anyone to even suggest that was what I was doing.
“I am pretty sure everyone understands the point I was making and knows that no offence was ever intended and that no equivalence was being suggested.”
She then stated she would “not be bullied” into removing the social media post by people “who are deliberately twisting the meaning of my words and finding offence when they know none was intended”.
According to leaked Whitehall papers, seen by The Sun newspaper, ministers could extend the indoor smoking ban to beer gardens, university and hospital campuses, sports grounds, children’s play areas and small parks.
A slew of MPs and influential Britons spoke out against the anti-smoking proposal on Thursday.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey told BBC Breakfast: “The question is, are they (Labour) getting the balance right?”
He had earlier said: “I think we’d have to look at the details. I mean, we’ve got to be careful in going over the top, but of course, there’s a case for making sure we can encourage people to stop smoking.”
Conservative shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “We want to protect our children from taking up smoking and vaping. Our Smoke-Free Generation legislation was designed to do that.
“Stopping adults from smoking in the open air, however, was not part of our plans. Labour is putting our hospitality sector at risk in the process.”
The previous Conservative government had suggested a cigarettes ban for anybody turning 15 this year, or younger.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he will swear off pubs altogether if the rule is brought in, speaking to the press while smoking a cigarette outside a Westminister pub.
Mr Farage lit up a Benson and Hedges outside the Westminster Arms, near the Houses of Parliament, and hailed smokers the “heroes of the nation in terms of the amount of taxation they pay”.
Sir Keir Starmer earlier told reporters the loss of lives because of smoking are “preventable” and that his ministers would “take decisions” on an outdoor cigarettes ban.
Related: People thrilled at prospect of Farage-free pubs as Reform UK leader commits to boycott